Some of the world’s fastest-growing bamboo toilet brands are making false and misleading claims about sustainability, misusing the FSC “gold standard,” and even using fast-growing virgin hardwoods—linked with massive deforestation—instead of bamboo fibres.
“The Forest Stewardship Council (or FSC) is seriously concerned about allegations regarding bamboo toilet paper containing other timber fibre,” according to a statement published by FSC International overnight:
“These allegations were investigated by Assurance Services International (ASI). The investigation included 14 certificate holders from the brands’ supply chains, as identified by (European publication) Which? – (including) Bazoo, Naked Sprout, and Bumboo.”
“ASI traced the supply chains of these companies back to the source and obtained their transaction records to check the certified timber traded between them,” FSC said, adding that “as a result of this investigation, one of the suppliers was suspended.”
In addition, “the investigation also revealed cases of trademark misuse. While the product’s label communicated that it contained 100% bamboo from FSC-certified forests, it was mixed with Eucalyptus FSC Mix pulp.”
The main difference between FSC 100% and FSC Mix labels is:
- FSC 100% means that only material from FSC-certified forests has been used in the product.
- FSC Mix means that the product is made of material from well-managed, FSC-certified forests and other controlled sources.
Can you believe claims made by bamboo toilet paper brands?
The investigation comes after Which? tested bamboo content across five of the UK’s top bamboo toilet paper brands. “All of the rolls we tested claimed to be made only of bamboo, but we found that three of the samples contained very small amounts of bamboo or grass fibre,” according to Olivia Howes and Sophie Morris, who co-published the article.
In recent years, bamboo-based toilet paper has gained market share on virgin toilet paper, with environmental groups claiming that bamboo is softer than recycled paper and more sustainable than new paper. “Bamboo grows quickly, does not need much water or pesticides and can be harvested repeatedly,” according to Treehugger, one of the world’s top sustainability blogs.
“Over recent years, there has been a growth in smaller brands offering toilet paper made of materials other than wood pulp,” Ms Howes said, “but our tests found that some toilet roll brands’ bamboo claims didn’t stack up on the samples we tested.”
In November 2023, Which? carried out fibre-composition testing to check the bamboo content of toilet rolls claimed to be made only of bamboo. Wood Central understands testing was done at an independent lab using an industry-standard TAPPI T 401, breaking down a sample of paper into its constituent fibres to quantify and identify them.
“We tested samples from five brands, which are the main players in the bamboo toilet roll market,” they said, with samples from The Cheeky Panda and Who Gives a Crap (WGAC) containing only bamboo as marketed, whilst samples from Bazoo, Bumboo and Naked Sprout did not.
“They contained low or very low levels of bamboo-like grass fibres. They were mainly composed of virgin hardwoods – mostly eucalyptus.” More troubling was the presence of acacia wood in two samples, “as this can be associated with damaging deforestation in places such as Indonesia.”
“Bazoo says it is ‘100% ‘tree-free, and Bumboo cites its ‘FSC-certified 100% bamboo from well-managed forests’. Naked Sprout talks about selling the ‘UK’s most sustainable tissue products’.”
This claim is based on its manufacturing, which is fossil-fuel-free and a certified B Corp (it meets social/ environmental standards). It does not advertise its product as 100% bamboo. “While these brands may not have deliberately misled consumers, it’s not good enough.”
“Shoppers choosing these products are often doing so specifically because they are trying to be more sustainable. Yet, if the pulp being used isn’t what it’s supposed to be, the final product could be less sustainable than it appears.”
- For more information, visit Which? testing finds some bamboo toilet paper actually made with wood, published 27 March 2024.
