Commercially grown hemp can be used in so many ways. It’s environmentally friendly and sustainable, requiring no fertilizers or pesticides to grow. The hemp plant can be harvested in as little as 70 days, requires little water throughout the process, and has the power to rebalance nutrients in the soil. Its fibers (often a waste material) are perfect for situations where lots of material is needed – such as for toilet paper.

The eco-friendly plant makes for an excellent toilet paper. Its fibers are odorless and resistant to mildew and several other fungi and possess antibacterial and antifungal properties that ensure healthy skin. In being made of hemp, the toilet paper is soft (hemp is softer than trees), yet durable, with the ability to absorb as much as four times its weight!

Reasons why hemp is so great for toilet paper include:

• It’s cheaper to manufacture hemp toilet paper than regular toilet paper because it uses less energy and chemicals in the process. Ordinary toilet paper requires harsh chemicals to break down the fibers of the tree, and the hemp plant doesn’t. Toilet paper requires only the cellulose part of the plant, trees are 30% cellulose but hemp is 85% cellulose!
• It’s biodegradable, more so than any other tissue paper.
• It doesn’t destroy forests through mass deforestation. Hemp replicates much faster than trees. Trees require several years to mature to the size necessary for harvesting and processing into toilet paper. As a result, farmers have to turn to cut down more forests while they wait for their new trees to grow. Hemp, on the other hand, requires only 70 days!
• It produces four times as much material (cellulose fibers) per acre compared to trees.
• Ten tons of hemp can be grown in one acre, making it the world’s best biomass.

Today, 35% of trees cut down are for paper demands. A quarter of all solid waste in landfill sites is from pulp and paper mills. In the US, each person uses an average of 50 pounds of toilet paper a year, which has led to the pulp and paper production being responsible for 20% of all toxic air waste. Furthermore, one ton of paper pollutes 20,000 gallons (76,000 liters) of water.

It makes sense that environmentalists are advocating the use of hemp as an alternative. Using hemp toilet paper would save millions of trees and help save our planet! Try substituting tree-based products with hemp-based products as a simple way to move towards a greener future. Sometimes helping the world is easy as choosing the right toilet paper!