Alongside refillable water bottles and glass straws, bamboo loo roll is one of the most common ‘easy eco switches’ that most of us will have looked into at some point. And this isn’t without good reason – with 27,000 trees chopped down daily for loo roll, a super renewable and bleach-free option seems like the perfect solution. However, earlier this year, consumer watchdog ‘Which?’ lifted the lid on some shocking data.

Most of the brands on the market label their eco loo roll as 100% bamboo… however, the study conducted by ‘Which?’ found that, in reality, many of these brands contain less than 5% bamboo fibre. But how on earth did this happen? Were they aware that they were misinforming customers? And if not, is accidental greenwashing still greenwashing? It’s time to Dish the Dirt… 

THE LOW DOWN ON LOO ROLL

So… to begin… what makes standard loo roll unsustainable? Whilst our focus might be on deforestation for farming or logging, some sources suggest that up to 10% of global deforestation occurs to make toilet paper. This not only releases CO2 into the atmosphere (due to the heavy machinery used) but also removes important tools for absorbing CO2 (the trees!). On top of that, to get the paper the bright white we’re used to seeing, the loo roll is often bleached, which releases harmful chemicals and uses water + energy.

Bamboo has some sustainable bonuses over traditional paper loo roll. For a start, bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing plant - maturing in as little as 3 years (whereas a tree usually takes around 30 years to be harvestable). It also grows super densely, meaning more material can be harvested from a small space (damaging less of the environment). Because most consumers also are buying bamboo for the benefit of it being sustainable, the pressure to have bright white loo roll also isn’t there - meaning most brands will avoid bleaches.

WHICH’S ‘LOODUNNIT’?

Last year, the team at ‘Which?’ noticed that not all bamboo loo roll companies disclosed how much of the toilet paper was actually made from bamboo. Is it usually 100%? 99%? Or can they get away with it being a little over 50%? So… they decided to do some tests. Back in November 2023, they carried out fibre-composition testing to find out exactly what materials leading bamboo loo roll brands.

Samples from The Cheeky Panda and Who Gives a Crap came out with results of 100%. But the samples they tested from Bazoo, Bumboo, and Naked Sprout very much didn’t – being found to contain just 26.1%, 4% and 2.7% bamboo respectively. In place of bamboo, all of them were found to contain mostly hardwood tree fibre (like eucalyptus). Samples from Naked Sprout and Bumboo also contained some acacia wood… which was even more concerning - as it tends to be associated with damaging deforestation in areas of Indonesia.

BUT WAS THIS ON PURPOSE?

All of the brands listed were founded with purpose in mind - and Bumboo and Bazoo talk a lot on their websites about why being 100% bamboo and tree-free is so important… so it seems unlikely that they would be purposefully misleading consumers. 

Bumboo has since openly spoken about the fact that it found an issue in its supply chain. Bazoo on the other hand has come out to say that it only uses FSC-certified bamboo (which should be keeping an eye on those supply chains and testing samples regularly), which has brought the FSC into the conversation on how well the supply chains are being monitored.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS?

Whilst it might not be nefarious, by definition, unintentional greenwashing is still greenwashing. 

In almost all cases unintentional greenwashing begins with incomplete or missing data e.g. lack of understanding of the journey a product makes from production to end-of-life, lack of supply chain transparency, or reliance on third-party certifications (in this case, like the FSC). It’s easy to see how with any of these 3 gaps in knowledge, trying to accurately calculate a number for your own waste production or carbon footprint accurately would be impossible.

And whilst it’s a shame to see brands with genuinely sustainable missions dropping the ball, it’s a great lesson for other purpose-led brands. Scheduled ingredient re-verification tests, regular audits, and a transparent, traceable supply chain that can be directly monitored can help businesses make sure that the product their customers purchase is exactly what it says on the tin. It makes sense.