Take the Tissue Challenge! Tissues are very convenient, but also very detrimental to our environment. Unless your tissue box says something like “no bleaching” or “100% recycled paper”, the material that you put on your nose’s delicate skin has been bleached and is made from wood pulp from virgin forests.

Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Scott, Cottonelle, Kleenex and Viva tissue paper products and also the largest tissue paper product manufacturer in the world, buys virgin pulp from the Canadian boreal forest, which had been untouched since the Ice Age (10,000 years ago) until recently, for the benefit (?) of our noses. According to the NRDC, only 9 percent of the pulp Kimberly-Clark uses to make toilet paper, facial tissue, napkins and paper towels for home use comes from recycled sources. The Council also states that  “the company uses no recycled content at all to manufacture grocery store brands such as Kleenex and Scott” ^[1]. If your favorite tissue brand is manufactured by Kimberly-Clark or if does not display the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo , it very probably does not follow sustainable forestry practices. That means that not only ancient forests are being destroyed but also the species dependent on that habitat, such as grizzly bears, wolves moose, lynx, and eagles, to name but a few of the hundreds of species living there. Native forests of the southeastern United States also are being devastated for human comfort and convenience.

Even if the tissues you buy are made of recycled paper and contain no bleaching, purchasing them does not make sense under the golden Reduce, Re-use, Recycle rule. So, this week’s challenge is to bring back the environmentally-friendly handkerchiefs. You can buy some on line, in stores (check out second hand stores too, Goodwill and The Salvation Army), or you can make them yourself using an old bed sheet or an old shirt, a needle and a thread. If you buy them new, try to buy 100% organic cotton as it is distinctively better for the environment. You can even personalize them by embroidering your initials on them. Make sure to always carry at least two. Happy nose blowing!

 

^[1]
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/tissue.asp