The vital Canadian boreal forest is being cut down, in part, to produce extra-soft toilet paper. That's why we're calling on Costco -- whose top-selling product is toilet paper -- to sell brands that use more sustainable materials. We've got momentum, but we'll need your help to win. DONATE TODAY:
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Friend,
The trees of Canada's boreal forest are being cut down at a rate of one and a half football fields per minute. To save them, we'll need American retailer Costco to take action.[1]
That's because many of these trees are being pulped to make toilet paper -- Costco's top-selling item at more than a billion rolls per year.[2]
This fall, our campaign to save the boreal helped win a shareholder resolution calling on Procter & Gamble to tackle deforestation driven by its Charmin, Puffs and Bounty brands. With your help, we can push Costco in the same direction.
Donate to support Environment Colorado's campaign to protect the boreal forest.
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According to a recent report, many of the manufacturers that make the tissue products Costco sells -- including Costco's own Kirkland brand -- use 100 percent virgin forest fiber from the boreal forest, instead of materials that are far more sustainable, like bamboo, wheat straw or recycled paper.[3]
Why? Because virgin fiber makes a somewhat softer tissue product that producers say their customers prefer.[4]
In return for softer tissue, we're clear-cutting a forest that sucks up so much carbon, it offsets the annual global warming pollution created by 24 million cars.[5]
For softer tissue paper, we're eliminating trees that are used by nearly half of all North America's birds each year at some point in their migratory cycle. We're eliminating an ancient forest that shelters forest caribou, wood bison, Canada lynx and countless other wild creatures.
That's not a fair trade. But unless companies like Costco hear from their customers on the issue, not much is going to change.
That's where we -- and you -- come in. We're working to win commitments to more sustainable practices from Costco and Procter & Gamble -- but we're citizen-funded, and that means this effort needs your help. Donate to back our campaign for the boreal.
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This fall, we helped win a major shareholder resolution calling on Procter & Gamble to tackle deforestation driven by its Charmin and Bounty brands.
Getting this far took a concerted campaign effort and the hard work of advocates all over the country. Your support powered that work.
We can get Costco's attention, too. We're calling on it to take two key steps:
* First, make its Kirkland Signature tissue products from at least 50 percent recycled or forest-free materials;
* Then, refuse to sell other brands of tissue products until they implement the same change.
Respected and highly rated American companies are already creating and selling popular tissue products made from more sustainable materials. This commitment is doable -- and with your help, we can get Costco to take action.[6,7]
Donate to Environment Colorado today to support our work to defend the boreal and all our special places.
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Thanks for making it all possible,
Hannah Collazo
State Director
1. Ryan Flanagan, "How a toilet paper boom is harming Canada's boreal forest," CTV News, February 26, 2019.
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2. Morgan Cutolo, "This is the best-selling item at Costco," Readers' Digest, July 8, 2020.
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3. Ryan Flanagan, "How a toilet paper boom is harming Canada's boreal forest," CTV News, February 26, 2019.
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4. Ryan Flanagan, "How a toilet paper boom is harming Canada's boreal forest," CTV News, February 26, 2019.
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5. Sam Wolfson, "Wiped out: America's love of luxury toilet paper is destroying Canadian forests," The Guardian, March 1, 2019.
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6. Adrian Humphreys, "U.S. plush toilet paper use wiping out Canada's forests, flushing away the future: report," Vancouver Sun, February 26, 2019.
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7. "Issue with Tissue" Sustainability Scorecard Flunks Charmin and Other Toilet Paper Brands," Business Wire, February 20, 2019.
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Your donation will be used to support all of our campaigns to protect the environment, from saving the bees and protecting public lands, to standing up for clean water and fighting climate change. None of our work would be possible without supporters like you. Environment Colorado may transfer up to $50 per dues-paying member per year into the Environment Colorado Small Donor Committee.
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