Too flash to flush
Home » Magazine » Good, issue 5 » Too flash to flushWhy does my toilet paper have dolphins on it? Plus: What to do with ‘compostable’ plastic
Why do toilet paper producers print things on their toilet paper? And why do they bleach it?
Anja Lenner
Purex New Zealand says that around 20 percent of New Zealanders prefer to purchase toilet paper with prints on it, to match their bathroom. That’s a heck of a lot of Kiwis with seascape-themed bathrooms. To respond to this demand, Purex uses water-based inks and dyes, which meet the requirements of Environmental Choice New Zealand standards (standard EC-1307, if you’re really keen to do your research).
Most sales of Earthcare toilet tissue are of the plain white rolls too, but it also uses water-based inks to pretty up some of its papers with seashells, dolphins and the like. Earthcare is three-ply, so designs are printed on the inside layer of tissue, with two more layers over the top so the ink is further away from your bottom.
As for bleaching, Purex says it trialled unbleached toilet paper 10 or 15 years ago and it was a resounding flop, due to the perception that white is clean and hygienic. Bleaching is done at the pulp mill, which operates in only one mode—bleached—because paper mills prefer to buy bleached pulp.
Because Earthcare tissue is made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, rather than virgin pulp, it does its own bleaching at the ABC Tissue plant in Australia. It uses an oxygen bleaching process, which is chlorine-free and eco-friendly. It tried releasing unbleached toilet paper too, but also found the slight grey tint of the tissue put consumers off.
How can bananas grown overseas still be labelled ‘organic’ when they have been sprayed by MAF when they come into New Zealand?
Leonie Penney
Almost all the bananas sold in New Zealand are imported.Because of where they’re from, bananas are considered likely to harbour insects, so they’re fumigated by MAF on arrival. MAF says that organically grown bananas are frequently fumigated with hydrogen cyanide (poisonous, yes, but don’t panic: it doesn’t penetrate the fruit or leave any detectable residue).
Fumigation of certified-organic bananas means they instantly lose their certification. Retailers can still say the bananas have been grown organically (without chemicals), but should not describe them as ‘certified organic’.
That shouldn’t stop you from buying them, says Brendan Hoare of global organic farming organisation IFOAM. “Supporting an organically grown product is a far better choice than chemically grown bananas.” Brendan believes the best solution of all is to buy bananas grown organically in New Zealand. He says Kaka Bananas in Auckland grow their ’nanas naturally, but struggle to produce great quantities because local pukeko like to eat them too.
What percentage of organic ingredients does a product need to be labelled organic or natural?
Jayne Simpson
Many food and beauty products are labelled ‘organic’ or ‘natural’, and you’re right to be suspicious. The word ‘natural’ is so vague there are no guidelines about using it. One product might use the word to mean unflavoured, but on another product it may refer to an absence of additives. Instead of relying on the branding, a better way to check for natural content is to read the ingredients list and see how many words you recognise.
‘Organic’ is a word with more meaning. Organic produce must be grown without the routine use of synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, and processed with minimal additives to retain its nutritional integrity.
The most reliable way of checking that a product is organic is to look for the trademark of a third-party certification agency, such as BioGro New Zealand. BioGro grants organic certification to growers and manufacturers who meet strict criteria. Certification is given to growers only after three years’ compliance.
For a processed product—including health and beauty products—to claim organic certification, at least 95 percent of its contents (excluding salt and water) and the production process itself need to be certified organic. The remaining five percent can only include allowed ingredients that are not available in organic form, and strictly controlled additives (see www.bio-gro.co.nz for more information).
The Commerce Commission doesn’t look kindly upon products that can’t back up their claims to be organic. One Auckland butcher was fined $10,000 for falsely labelling products as certified organic. If you think a manufacturer or retailer is making misleading claims, you can make a complaint to the Commerce Commission, which will assess whether it might be a breach of the Fair Trading Act.
I bought some cherry tomatoes in NatureWorks PLA “compostable packaging”. Do I need to cut it up to go in the compost? How long will it take to break down?
Cindy Voss
Polylactic acid, or PLA, is a plastic made from renewable resources (corn or sugarcane) and produced with less environmental impact than oil-based plastic. Sometimes called a ‘bioplastic’, PLA is said to be compostable—but it’s not quite that simple.
It’ll take a couple of years for PLA to break down in a home compost bin, no matter how small you cut it up. PLA really requires an industrial composting facility for it to reach the temperature (about 60°C) and moisture levels required to break it down—but New Zealand doesn’t yet have any industrial composting facilities. It won’t biodegrade naturally either, so chucking a PLA-plastic water bottle out the car window is just as bad as littering with a regular plastic bottle.
What can you do with it? That’s a toughie too, since PLA isn’t yet recyclable in New Zealand. The Recyclers of New Zealand association recommends putting PLA containers in your rubbish bin, rather than the recycling. That’s because PLA looks the same as other plastics, so it could eventually contaminate mainstream plastic recycling—although there aren’t yet enough PLA containers being recycled to make that a problem.
Grant Hall, director of Good Water—which sells water in PLA bottles—says reaching the contamination threshold of ten percent is a long way away. He reckons if you’re in the habit of recycling then keep it up, since recycling operators will begin collecting PLA when volume is high enough.
PLA isn’t perfect, Grant acknowledges, but “don’t let perfect get in the way of better”.
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