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Writer's picture52Steps

52Eco#51 Use less loo roll.



Reusable loo roll for wees is a really easy way to dramatically cut your toilet roll usage.


These patterned fleece cloths (originally purchased for use as reusable baby wipes) are perfect. Or check out Etsy for a wide variety of purpose-made patterned reusable loo roll.


Of course you could make your own by cutting up old t-shirts or other non-fraying-yet-absorbent material, but do choose brightly patterned cloth to hide stains and to make it very obvious if they are absentmindedly dropped into the loo. You do not want to cause a pipeline blockage!


For a family of four I suggest buying two packs of the aforementioned patterned fleece cloths (in total 40 cloths) and cutting each cloth in half (meaning they are more the size of a piece of traditional loo roll) to give 80 cloths. Having plenty means you aren't worrying about eeking them out until the next load of washing is dry.

Clean ready-to-use cloths hang in a wipe-clean bag on the loo roll holder (where the regular loo roll used to hang). The regular paper loo roll (used for poo and for visitors to use) is relegated to a less prominent (but still in-reach) position.


*UPDATE* See below for plastic-free, recycled, UK-sourced and UK-made, traditional loo roll suggestions. For non-wee wiping we either use Sainsburys recycled loo roll (which now comes in a paper outer wrapper - hurrah!), as we can buy it (just over £3 for 9 rolls) with the normal supermarket shopping, or we get a big box of recycled 2-ply in bulk from Nova Tissues on Ebay and Amazon **be sure to select the 2ply option as the 3ply version is not made from recycled paper**


Now, back to (unused) reusable loo roll storage... The wipe-clean bag gets sprayed and wiped with tea tree oil during the weekly bathroom cleaning blitz.


Used wee-tainted cloths get rinsed out by their user in the sink and placed in a net-bag-in-a-small-bucket next to the loo. The 'bucket' is a large 5 litre tupperware tub, similar to this. I prefer a plain plastic tub / bucket to an actual bin, because bathroom bins always seem to have metal parts which rust and they have nooks and crannies to gather dirt and germs. Lidded bins are the worst as everyone shares germs touching the lid. Foot operated pedal bins have too many moving parts which are impossible to keep properly clean. Bin rant over! Anyway...similar net bags (ours are TotsBots branded) are sold by Bambino Mio. You'll need two mesh laundry bags, so one can be in use whilst the other is washed and dried.


The bucket is carried to the washing machine and the entire net bag gets put into the GuppyFriend bag (which is pricey but catches micro-plastics fibres from fleece) and then tossed into the machine to be washed with the rest of the laundry, daily.

*UPDATE* after 6 months of regular use (including 3 months of daily use) the zip broke off my GuppyFriend bag. Oh dear! But the customer service provided was excellent. I emailed the company on us@stopmicrowaste.com to raise my concerns and a replacement was dispatched swiftly. An alternative is the ingenious microfibre-trapping Cora Ball available from the Babi Pur website.

*FURTHER UPDATE* the GuppyFriend bag zip broke AGAIN after 6 months. I have contacted the company to see if they are planning to update the design. As the bag was originally designed by German surfers, I am sure that they are experts in robust zips (wetsuit zips would work well on a GuppyFriend bag in my opinion). Let's keep our fingers crossed... *ANOTHER UPDATE* Latest Guppy Bag has a much more robust zip - yippee!


I always wash all of our laundry with Napisan laundry disinfectant powder. (But never wash polyester PUL reusable nappy outers in Napisan, as it degrades the waterproofing.) The bucket gets rinsed out and then sprayed with tea tree oil (a natural disinfectant).


The fleece cloths we use dry very quickly when hung up in groups of four-to-a-peg on an IKEA PRESSA hanging dryer.


If reusable loo roll is a step too far (or if like us you use it for wees but still need traditional loo roll for other wiping jobs) then read on...


There are many 'eco' brands of loo roll to choose from. I have listed only the plastic-free-packaging, recycled paper, UK-sourced and UK-made ones (all bamboo products source their bamboo from China, resulting in a huge carbon footprint), so that makes the choice a bit easier...


* Boxroll Loose Roll (www.ruraltrading.co.uk). There is a choice of 2ply or 3ply loo roll, but only the 2ply is made from recycled paper, so I'm ignoring the 'luxury' 3ply option here. Private households must order multiple boxes (including next day delivery in a cardboard box sealed with paper tape) so make sure that you have room to store lots of loo rolls! Contact the company via the above link for current prices.


*Essentials by Essential Trading (www.essential-trading.co.uk) The minimum delivery spend is £300 (as the website usually serves cooperatives and trade customers). Ethical Superstore sells the compostable-potato-starch-wrapped pack of 4 rolls for £1.99, but factor in the charge of £3.95 for delivery, or get free delivery for orders over £50. But for me it seems wasteful to have (compostable) wrapping around every 4 rolls, when you can buy other brands loose in a big box.


*Nova Tissue (https://novatissue.co.uk/shop/#toiletroll) supports the Tree Aid charity. Their 'Soft on Nature' range is plastic free (down to the paper tape used to seal the boxes of loose loo rolls). The wrapped-in-potato-starch 9-packs are available in a bulk deal of (12 packs) 108 rolls for the bargain price of about £40. The loose rolls - which reduce packaging waste even further - are available as 36 rolls of recycled 2ply for about £20, INCLUDING 2-day delivery. The loose-rolls-in-a-big-cardboard-box are available via Ebay and Amazon **be sure to select the 2ply option as the 3ply version is not made from recycled paper**


* Serious Tissues (serioustissues.com) plant a tree for every loo roll sold. The 3-ply box of 36 rolls cost about £35 (there is also a 10 % discount for subscribing to regular deliveries). Prices include delivery in a recycled cardboard box, in 5-7 days.


*Supermarkets... Sainsbury's recycled loo roll is now available in paper packaging - woohoo! Just over £3 for 9 rolls. These can be picked up with your usual groceries, thus not adding the extra transportation emissions of a single-item courier service. Sometimes Tesco and Aldi stock their own-brand version of paper-wrapped loo roll. It's worth a look next time you shop, as I hope ever-more supermarkets will realise we want this!


I'd personally rather stick with UK-based and recycled paper loo roll (not imported bamboo), but many of these other eco brands have charity arrangements, which are enticing:


The Good Roll (based in the Netherlands) produces recycled paper rolls and donates half of all profits to building toilets in countries where they are most needed.

Uranuswiper produces their recycled paper rolls in 'Europe' (I haven't been able to narrow down its location further yet) and donate 1p per 9 pack sold to an Anal Cancer charity (which doesn't sound much but at least their packaging highlights the disease and the charity).

WGAC (based in China) offers some recycled paper rolls and some bamboo rolls and donates half of all profits to building toilets in countries where they are most needed. I personally dislike that they only sell wasteful, individually-wrapped rolls.

Naked Sprout (based in China) makes bamboo toilet rolls and donates to 'Just a Drop' which is a safe-water charity in Kenya.

Bumboo (based in China) produces bamboo loo roll and plants a tree for every box of loo roll purchased via the Eden Reforestation Projects charity. They sell (in my opinion, wasteful) individually wrapped rolls, as well as offering unwrapped rolls.


Go on, make the change. You will save £ each week (if you commit to reusable loo roll) whilst also saving paper and reducing packaging waste.


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