Costco needs to stop selling toilet paper made from ancient trees

The Boreal forest is worth saving.

There are still enough trees in the Canadian boreal spanning the continent, siphoning enough carbon each year to offset the global warming pollution of 24 million cars.

There is still wildlife, including the Canadian lynx, the snowshoe hare and the forest caribou, that pad the forest floor beneath their boughs. Nearly half of all North American birds still rely on the forest as they migrate and breed.

But unfortunately for wildlife and our climate, many manufacturers make their tissue paper using 100 percent virgin forest fiber — much of it logged and pulped trees from the boreal. These companies use all-virgin fiber because it makes a softer tissue they believe customers prefer.

We know we can save this forest together.

Here’s why we think we can win, and why Costco’s commitment would be so important:

• We have alternatives. There exist materials for creating tissue products that are far less damaging than wood, like wheat straw, bamboo and recycled paper. Well-regarded companies are already using them to make products many Americans use.
• We have momentum. Environment America and our national network have been publicly urging Procter & Gamble (P&G), which owns the Charmin, Bounty and Puffs brands, to stop making products using virgin fiber. In October, by a surprisingly large margin, shareholders voted for a proposal calling on the company to eliminate deforestation in its supply chain.
• As for Costco, toilet paper is its best-selling item. The retailer sells a billion rolls a year. If each and every one of those rolls were made in a way that tread lightly on the Boreal and the Earth, it would have a huge impact on the industry.

We’re calling on Costco to take two steps to help save Canada’s boreal forest: 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.