Best Eco Toilet Paper: 4 Plastic Free Toilet Paper Brands UK

I have tried a few types of eco toilet paper over the last 6 months so I wanted to let you know my thoughts on the plastic free toilet paper that I’ve tried.

I have bought and tried Who Gives A Crap, Oceans and Cheeky Panda which are all available in the UK. It was also recommended that I talk about Bazoo toilet paper as well. I wanted to give my thoughts and opinions of each of these plastic free toilet paper brands. Three of them are bamboo toilet paper and one is just plastic free toilet paper.

I actually use a bidet in combination with eco toilet paper, if you’re interested in learning more about family cloth and bidets, click here.

This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small profit if you buy through my link. I would never recommend something I didn’t believe in or wouldn’t buy myself, thank you for your support.

Which Is Better Recycled or Bamboo Toilet Paper?

I used to always buy recycled toilet paper from Tesco in the UK, however this toilet paper always came in plastic. Due to this I went on the search for a plastic free option. During this search I discovered that a few companies were doing recycled toilet paper such as Who Gives A Crap, which I review below. Plus bamboo toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap and from Cheeky Panda (see my Cheeky Panda review below.)

In order to determine which is the most environmentally friendly I have broken it down to Pros and Cons of each type of toilet paper.

Recycled Toilet Paper

Pros

• Usually made from post consumer paper waste but sometimes pre consumer wood waste
• It’s usually quite affordable
• 35% less carbon emissions to make than standard toilet paper
• Requires much less water to make than standard toilet paper

Cons

• 30% more carbon emissions to make than bamboo toilet paper
• Sometimes it has to be bleached due to dyes in the paper waste
• Recycled toilet paper can contain BPA

Bamboo Toilet Paper

Pros

• Absorbs 5 times more carbon than trees
• Produces 30% more oxygen than trees
• Reaches maturity in 4-6 years
• Requires no pesticides to grow
• Can grow from rain water
• Doesn’t require bleach
• Produces much less carbon emissions to make

Cons

• Can be more expensive than recycled toilet paper
• Usually has to be shipped from Countries such as China

Bazoo

About the brand

Bazoo are the worlds first carbon negative toilet paper, which I thought was really interesting. What that means is that they calculate their carbon footprint during the whole process and they then offset though ClimateCare to achieve carbon neutrality. They then offset further to make them carbon negative.

This company was created by Sanmarie and Tom. As well as ensuring they were carbon negative, they also donate 10% of their profits to Rainforest Trust UK and Just One Ocean. They have a lot of worrying facts on their website such as average wildlife populations have dropped by 60% in just 40 years and climate change could be irreversible by 2030. To learn more, visit the link to their website below.

Specifics

They have three different ranges of toilet paper available. The pictured toilet paper is 100% bamboo and it’s their species range.

Species Range

• Bamboo
• Chlorine free bleach
• Double length rolls (300 sheets)
• 3 ply
• Hypoallergenic
• Recycled packaging
• £21.60 if subscription £24 for one off (24 rolls)

100% unbleached bamboo toilet paper

• Bamboo
• No bleach ink or dyes
• Double length rolls (300 sheets)
• 3 ply
• Hypoallergenic
• Recycled packaging
• £21.15 if subscription £23.50 for one off (24 rolls)

100% White bamboo toilet paper

• Bamboo
• Chlorine free bleach
• Fsc certified bamboo pulp
• Double length rolls (300 sheets)
• 3 ply
• Hypoallergenic
• Unwrapped
• £21.15 if subscription £23.50 for one off (24 rolls)

Who Gives A Crap

About the brand

Who Gives A Crap are a certified B corporation which is really cool. In case you aren’t aware: Companies that have been certified as a B Corporation have had to prove that they are a fully transparent and that they are committed to their social and environmental practices.

Along with Fairtrade, these are the two certifications that I look for when buying products now because I know that in order to be certified they would have been checked thoroughly to ensure they are doing what they say they are.

What’s really cool about Who Gives A Crap, is that 50% of the profits from their eco toilet paper goes towards funding for toilets to built in areas of the world that don’t have them. They are known for their recycled toilet paper and their bamboo toilet paper.

When they were starting out with the company, there were 2.4billion people in the world without access to a toilet and now there’s 2billion so that’s approximately 40% of the worlds population. They state that 289,000 children under 5 years old die from diarrhoeal disease caused by poor water and sanitation.

Their partnership with Water Aid for building toilets, quite literally saves lives.

In 2012 they crowd funded to start Who Gives A Crap, one of the founders Simon, sat on a toilet in the middle of a draughty warehouse and refused to move until they had raised enough funds to get started with production. 50 hours later they had $50,000 and in 2013 their product was ready to be sold.

I did a comparison of this eco toilet paper to the recycled Tesco toilet paper, that I had been using up until that point. You can view this in the below video on my YouTube channel.

Specifics

The Who Gives A Crap plastic free toilet paper, has quite a unique way of packaging the toilet paper. It was delivered to me in a cardboard box, with each roll individually wrapped in colourful paper. This is the main difference to the other eco toilet paper I’ve tried. At Christmas time previously they have had Christmas themed paper, which looks really cute.

100% Recycled Toilet Paper

• Recycled toilet paper
• Double length rolls
• 3 ply
• Colourful individually wrapped in paper
• £24 for one of purchase and £5 off first order if you subscribe

As for the rolls of toilet paper, I bought the 100% recycled eco toilet paper. However they do have premium 100% bamboo eco toilet paper from £26. Both toilet papers are 3 ply and they state double length rolls. Bamboo toilet paper is obviously the most sustainable option as it grows 3 times faster than trees.

In comparison to the Tesco I used before which was 100% recycled as well but in plastic, the Who Gives A Crap eco toilet paper is softer but also slightly thinner than standard toilet paper. It was a slightly bigger roll, however.

Premium Bamboo Toilet Paper

• Bamboo
• Double length rolls
• 3 ply
• Colourful individually wrapped in paper
• £26 for one of purchase and £5 off first order if you subscribe

When I reviewed this previously and filmed a video, I didn’t actually realise that you save £5 off first order if you subscribe.. For a one-off purchase it’s £24 for 24 rolls which is quite a lot. However, as it’s free delivery if you subscribe you do get that initial saving which is good.

Oceans

About the brand

Oceans are an eco toilet paper company which gives 25% of their profits to the Marine Conservation Society, which is working towards keeping plastic out of our oceans – to help the marine life.

The Marine Conservation Society are working towards keeping 30% of our waters managed to protect wildlife and eco systems. Oceans state that only a sea full of life can absorb carbon and tackle climate change.

They are FSC responsibly sourced and made in the UK which was what drew me to them initially.

They are also a Sedex approved company. From looking into Sedex a little, it appears that Sedex are a non-profit membership which is looking to help companies improve working conditions in global supply chains.

From looking into this brand for a second time, I don’t believe they use recyled paper, however. I think this might be something I overlooked when I originally ordered from them.

Specifics

The Oceans eco toilet paper arrived 27 rolls packaged into mini boxes of 9 within one large cardboard box. The plastic free toilet paper itself, was embossed slightly with bubble print. I do state in my video that I did think the boxes within a box were a little bit overkill and unnecessary. However, they may want to avoid potential damage in delivery?

In the above video I compare the Who Gives A Crap to the Oceans and I noticed straight away that the Who Gives A Crap had slightly bigger rolls. However, the Oceans plastic free toilet paper felt thicker in comparison.

They were also listed as 3 ply plastic free toilet paper.

The Oceans eco toilet paper was the cheapest I’ve tried at £14.99 for a box of 27 so much closer in price to the Supermarket toilet paper I would say.

Cheeky Panda UK

About the brand

Cheeky Panda are a company that I’ve only recently discovered. However, they are a certified B corporation which like I said before I do look for in a brand these days as that means they’re doing everything they can ethically and sustainably.

It looks like their eco toilet paper is available for delivery in the UK, USA, Germany and France.

They are Vegan Certified, FSC approved, cruelty free and dermatologically tested.

They state that 27,000 are cut down every day for traditional toilet paper production so they use bamboo sourced sustainably from China to make their bamboo toilet paper. You can read their sustainability report 2019-2020 on their website which I think is really useful and very transparent.

It states on their website that the process for production and delivery is carbon balanced. In the report I mention above they state that they send stock overseas when they have to, because they know how bad aeroplanes are for the environment.

They are partnered with the following organisations:

• World Land Trust (carbon balanced paper)
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation
• Toilet Twinning (organisation which builds toilets for poorer families)

Below is my Cheeky Panda review on my YouTube channel. However, scroll down if you’d prefer to read my review of Cheeky Panda.

Specifics

Even thought I don’t have the Oceans and Who Gives A Crap to compare it to right now, I can see straight away that the rolls are slightly smaller. However the thickness of The Cheeky Panda eco toilet paper seems really good and thicker than Who Gives A Crap but perhaps not as much as Oceans.

Bamboo Toilet Paper

• Bamboo
• Unwrapped
• £19.99 one off purchase £18.99 if subscription

It’s worth noting that this is eco toilet paper is 100% bamboo toilet paper and Oceans is not even recycled. Who Gives A Crap you might remember have 100% bamboo toilet paper available, however more expensive at £26 for a one off purchase.

It’s definitely very soft, I didn’t know what to expect with it being bamboo toilet roll. I know from using cloth nappies that liners made from bamboo are generally soft but also really absorbent so I was interested to see what this would mean in bamboo toilet paper. However, I don’t see it being an issue flushing bamboo toilet paper because it’s no denser than ordinary toilet paper.

The price for this plastic free toilet paper is £19.99 for a one of purchase of 24 rolls. However, there was a 20% discount if you subscribed which was what I did.

Summary

In summary I actually think all of these companies are brilliant options for eco toilet paper.

Who Gives A Crap is slightly more expensive than The Cheeky Panda and both of them are B Corporations and doing some awesome things for our environment.

I love the Cheeky Panda toilet paper and I’m happy to continue to support this eco toilet paper brand myself. If you would prefer bamboo toilet paper for sustainable reasons then you can choose between Who Gives A Crap and The Cheeky Panda depending on what you can afford and where you are located.

Oceans giving 25% profit to The Marine Conservation is really good as well, although they’re not recycled toilet paper. If you are on a really tight budget but you would like to make the switch to plastic free toilet paper this could be a good option for you.

Bazoo is a really interesting brand that I hadn’t heard of until recently, it’s quite good that they are carbon negative and that they give 10% of their profits to charity partners. They are also second cheapest out of all of these eco toilet paper brands.

I hope this comparison of eco toilet paper has been helpful. I find it encouraging to see more sustainable brands that have come about in the last 10 years and especially some great plastic free toilet paper to choose from including bamboo toilet paper which is my new favourite option.

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