Design Life-Cycle

 Calvin Zuo, Allen Huang

Raw Material:

Toilet paper is a common household appliance that has multiple raw materials such as fibers from the trees and chemicals such as chlorine oxide that would refine the paper into its thin strips and texture the consumers know today. The main raw material is the trees’ wood which would go under multiple physical changes and chemical restructuring in manufacturing; in addition, other materials such as plastic and ink will be used to package the toilet paper in fine order. The recycling aspects of toilet paper are still in question due to the fact that toilet paper’s chemical structure is very hard to reprocess and reproduced into “recycled toilet paper”. Due to weak recycling, waste management would take an interesting turn where toilet paper has certain attributes that would make it more environmentally friendly but not sustainable in the long run. In the beginning and leading to the climax of toilet paper’s life cycle, the paper requires a multitude of materials that would attribute the quality of toilet paper today, but the ending of the life cycle has shown that the raw materials invested into the product are somewhat environmentally considerate but not sustainable in the foreseeable future.

The beginning of the life cycle involves finding and acquiring the first raw materials and transporting these materials to the manufacturing sites where they begin to process the material. There are two types of materials that start the life cycle of toilet paper: softwood and hardwood. Starting with the acquisition of softwood trees such as Southern pines and Douglas fir and hardwood trees such as gum, maple, and oak. Getting the wood involves deforestation from local forests where over 27,000 trees are cut every day. Deforestation requires machinery to cut down the trees from their roots and cut the trees in transportable batches to nearby toilet paper manufacturing sites. These forests are usually located in North America, South America, and Asia. Another method to acquire wood is through tree farms. Tree farms are dedicated areas where trees are modified to acquire desirable traits such as having more wood rather than leaves or branches. Trees are usually nurtured with specific chemicals so that they would grow out specific traits such as more fibers in order to be more suitable for toilet paper making. In this case, toilet paper requires trees with the optimal amount of wood per tree. The ratio of the tree is 70% hardwood and 30% softwood.[1] Once the trees get debarked (the tree’s outer layer along with any other external properties such as leaves and branches), the trees are sent to the toilet paper manufacturing site using available automobiles. From the fields, the wood will be manufactured, processed, and formulated into toilet paper.

During the manufacturing stage of the cycle, the softwood and hardwood go under physical changes and are chemically restructured where they produced the final form of toilet paper. The trees get chipped into uniform sizes into batches of wood chips. The chips get measured and mixed with a resistant slurry (cooking chemicals including water and chlorine dioxide) in a pressure cooker.[2] More chemicals such as formaldehyde, petroleum-based oil, and bisphenol-A. The result is usable fiber due to the removed moisture and other components of the tree except for fiber and certain ligins.[3] The fiber gets cooked, removing the chemicals and the majority of the ligin. Then the fiber gets bleached using chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and peroxide. The fiber gets washed to be produced into paper stocks; afterward, the paper is moved into a mesh screen in order to get the water to be drained. Later the paper is heated and pressed into its familiar paper form. The paper gets creped into wrinkles, and with a metal blade, the paper is made into sheets and transported to the jumbo paper reel where the paper is formed into long paper rolls. On the converting machine, the paper is put into cardboard rolls, and once the paper log is complete, it is cut into rolls and packaged using the tissue log shredder. Although toilet paper as a lone roll is complete, multiple toilet papers are required in order to be sold in the market. Therefore, the packaging of the toilet paper rolls comes with plastic wrapping as well as inks to label the plastic. Plastic and ink are secondary raw materials where the primary raw material has been manipulated and processed into forms where that can be used for packaging toilet paper. Machinery is used to assemble the final product of the pack of toilet paper, and mass production of toilet paper packs will be readily available for distribution and transportation to either consumers or second-hand vendors. Overall, starting from the transformation of wood to toilet paper requires a multitude of chemicals, machinery, and secondary raw materials in order to complete the final product.

Distribution and transportation of toilet paper can be reflected in the location of manufacturing sites and vending sites. A key component of this stage is proximity and the cost of transportation. The proximity of fields to the manufacturing site to vendors or consumers will affect the cost; many companies preferred to acquire raw materials and manufacture in foreign countries due to the lower cost of labor and transportation and less regulation.[4] From the factories, the toilet paper goes through multiple distribution channels where the packages of toilet paper are either distributed online or offline.[5] Offline deliveries involve second-hand distributors ordering from nearby toilet paper manufacturers. Delivery involves trucks due to many distributors prefer toilet paper manufacturers to be in proximity to their store locations. As stated prior, the proximity will lower the transportation cost. Online is delivered via doorstep delivery (automobiles or airplanes) directly coming from the manufacturer or second-hand distributors. Many of the raw materials acquired at the beginning of the life cycle are found in foreign countries. There will be cases where international toilet paper will be cheaper when ordering in large quantities. Therefore, second-hand distributors would be able to transport toilet paper via airways from foreign countries to domestic regions. Once the toilet paper is landed in the consumer’s lap, the paper is used and possibly recycled.

The main use and recycling of toilet paper prove that the product is not sustainable. The paper is designed for single use; consumers use toilet paper for the toiletry business which involves human fluids and waste, making it difficult to maintain. As a result, no maintenance is required for toilet paper. In addition, the design of toilet paper makes it difficult to maintain due to its being simply strands of fiber. However, it is possible to recycle where remains of toilet paper can be collected and recycled. Even with the possibility of recycling toilet paper comes with a niche of toilet paper being able to be recycled. Only a certain type of toilet paper is recyclable which is usually called “recyclable toilet paper”. A way to recycle toilet paper is to use a paper cascade.[6] The process is similar to the manufacturing stage of the cycle, but due to the design of the paper, the paper requires additional chemicals that would make the paper usable. These chemicals are known to be unwanted substances; some of these substances are called organohalogen compounds, heavy metals, and mineral oils which are toxic to humans and are environmentally hazardous.[7] However, these compounds are useful for the quality of the paper such as being a wet-strength agent and biocide. Alternative sources could be considered for recycling as well. Using office or school recycled paper would substitute existing softwood and hardwood from the forests.[8] This new type of paper would create a different version of the familiar toilet paper in the market, but it consists of qualities that would allow it to be recycled (chemical structure). These new chemical structures would allow the paper to be easily extracted from the waste and remanufactured. Thinking forwardly, existing toilet paper is used for single use which therefore gives the paper a specific trait that would make it easier for waste management.

Based on the formula of toilet paper, single-use toilet paper is created to be easily disposable, making it more environmentally friendly but not as sustainable. The most common way toilet paper is discarded is by flushing the product down the toilet.[9] However, toilet paper is deemed too thin and hard to restructure by some recyclers chemically. Therefore, the design of toilet paper is that it becomes disintegrable and forms toilet paper water that can be found in the water treatment process. It is deemed that 95% of toilet paper is disintegrated in the water while the other 5% of the toilet paper is consumed by bacteria. Although the majority of the paper is disposed of, the small amount of paper consumed by bacteria produced methane gas which is known for contributing to global warming. On the other hand, toilet paper being disintegrable allows less interference in waterways and oceanic wildlife which would be beneficial. If toilet paper is discarded through the trash, then it would be found in landfills.[10] Both methods lead the toilet paper to the end of its life cycle. With the dead end of waste management, toilet paper’s life cycle is more of a one-way product rather than a circular. Toilet paper is not sustainable due to it being hardly reproduced and the majority of the raw material is lost in the water system or the ocean. However, toilet paper is somewhat environmentally friendly due to it not being invasive in the space it takes.

The life cycle of toilet paper started from the simple raw materials of softwood and hardwood; throughout the cycle, the material goes under chemical transformation and production making the final form of the toiletry. Both the use and recycling aspects of toilet paper show that the product is not sustainable due to the chemical structure of toilet paper being difficult to extract. On the other hand, toilet paper has some traits that make it environmentally friendly and it does not impact the environment in terms of taking space. Toilet paper is not perfect for the environment where the remains of the paper still produce harmful gases that would impact global temperatures. Scientists along with manufacturers are looking into substitutes that would make toilet paper more sustainable for the long period, but it would sacrifice quality control of the beloved product. In the future, toilet paper may be recyclable or the current process of toilet paper would be completely reevaluated due to having new raw materials.

Bibliography:

1. “Toilet Paper.” How Products Are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Toilet-Paper.html.

2. IS Editor Nov 10, et al. “How Toilet Paper Is Made - Basic Overview.” Industrial Shredders, 8 Oct. 2015, https://www.industrialshredders.com/resources/how-toilet-paper-is-made-basic-overview.

3. wiliam, Jessica, et al. “What Is Toilet Paper Made of? (Primary & Hidden Ingredients).” Sunrise Specialty, 1 Sept. 2022, https://www.sunrisespecialty.com/toilet-paper.

4. “Wood vs Recycled vs Bamboo Toilet Paper.” Bamboo Toilet Paper OEM Manufacture, 1 Feb. 2023, https://www.nlbamboo.com/wood-vs-recycled-vs-bamboo-toilet-paper/.

5. ReportLinker. “Global Toilet Paper Market by Distribution Channel, by Type, by End User, by Regional Outlook, Industry Analysis Report and Forecast, 2021 - 2027.” GlobeNewswire News Room, ReportLinker, 28 Feb. 2022, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/28/2393168/0/en/Global-Toilet-Paper-Market-By-Distribution-Channel-By-Type-By-End-User-By-Regional-Outlook-Industry-Analysis-Report-and-Forecast-2021-2027.html.

6. “The Best Zero-Waste Toilet Paper.” Zero Waste, 6 Sept. 2022, https://www.zerowaste.com/blog/the-best-zero-waste-toilet-paper/.

7. “Paper Production and Converting.” Sofidel, 4 Aug. 2022, https://www.sofidel.com/en/the-group/paper-production/.

8. “Facts about Paper Waste: 7 Ways to Reduce Your Waste.” LastObject, LastObject, 14 June 2021, https://lastobject.com/blogs/going-zero-waste/paper-waste.

9. Tinycaravan, Written By, et al. “Is It Better to Flush or Toss Your Toilet Paper?” Tinycaravan, 8 May 2019, https://tinycaravan.co/2016/10/13/is-it-better-to-flush-or-toss-your-toilet-paper/.

10. 13, Written by Alex KinejaraMay. “Reducing Toilet Paper Landfill Waste in 3 Ways.” Reel, https://reelpaper.com/blogs/reel-talk/toilet-paper-landfill.

Waste Paper:

Toilet paper is a necessity that people use in their daily lives. Among every single country around the world, the use of toilet paper is a definite similarity among all the differences. Every time someone goes to the bathroom, there is a chance that they are using toilet paper for multiple purposes. While toilet paper is such a simple yet necessary resource that people use daily, the production of toilet paper on the other hand is more complicated than its many layers. The product of toilet paper itself is more than just the paper itself, it also involves the wrap which is made out of plastic, the cone in the center, which is made out of tough paper. In the life cycle of toilet paper, this research paper will specifically focus on the waste process of toilet paper through all stages of production, such as its use and after being used. The stages include the waste material produced when extracting the raw material from earth, the process of manufacturing and waste materials created from the formulation, the waste of energy when running the machinery (as well as the waste of emission when transporting and distribution of toilet paper to each individual’s homes), the process of the use of toilet paper and the disposal of it. Last but not least, the final stage will focus on the waste of the plastic wrap alongside the center paper cone when people choose to recycle them. Through the research and analysis of these stages of toilet paper’s life cycle, the message being shared is that when using toilet paper, individuals should only use what

they need to save the environment from the diversity of waste that comes from the life cycle of toilet paper

In general, when it comes to the making of paper, most people would simply assume, or have a rough idea that trees are being cut down to produce paper. What kind of waste does the acquisition of this raw material actually generate? This paragraph will dive into the truth of the waste that comes from the extracting stage of the life cycle. It is common knowledge that trees are necessary for the health of the planet; they produce oxygen for all the organisms, they filter out pollution of different sorts, and countless more good things. Sadly the making of toilet paper is inseparable from the raw material that comes from a tree. According to Rayonier: “Toilet paper has to be very strong so it won’t fall apart when it’s used. But it also has to be soft to ensure comfort. That’s why a mix of trees are used to make it.” (Why Trees are, n.d.) With this knowledge, it is important to figure out in what ways waste will come from the cutting down of trees. Since the beginning of time, humans have slowly mastered the technology of inventing and using tools. One of the most high efficiency modern methods to cut down trees is through chainsaws, in the report of Garden Power Tools: “Chainsaws are a primary tool when it comes to removing trees; they are considered to be one of the most efficient, powerful and effective machines there are for cutting down trees.” (Sides 1) The term “powerful” brings the idea that the machine, in this case the chainsaw, produces a large amount of energy. In many situations, the ability to produce power requires a large amount of input as well. With the burning and using of the fuel, these chainsaws release waste. According to Sciencedaily.com, in an experiment they conducted, 18 workers worked on different projects for 50 days. In the end of the

experiment, they discovered that chainsaws and strimmer created more than 50% of the airborne particulates.(May 2013) In light of this information, airborne particulate matter is the first form of waste in a life cycle of toilet paper. To further expand, when trees are being cut down for the production of toilet paper, all the pollution and the waste that would have been stopped by absorbed through trees, would still exist. So by cutting down trees humans create pollution and waste. According to USDA: “Trees remove air pollution by the interception of particulate matter on plant surfaces and the absorption of gaseous pollutants through the leaf stomata.”(Nowak et al.). In this case, by making toilet paper humans are indirectly increasing air pollution as well as gaseous pollutants. With all the trees cut and ready, now the concern is what waste will be produced from the processing of the raw materials in this case the trees.

Next, the manufacturing section of toilet paper making is likely the most thought of when making paper is mentioned. In this process, the raw materials, which are trees, will be manufactured into the secondary material: toilet paper. In the report of madehow.com, the first process that trees go through is debarking. (Toilet Paper) It is a process in which the trees are being “shaved”, since every tree has to go through the process of debark, this process produces a large amount of waste. As Timmo Alexandrovich Gavrilov says in his report: “According to some estimation the annual debarking waste makes about 6 mln cubic meters. Taking into consideration these circumstances the importance of the research focused on the rational use of the debarking waste is increasing nowadays.” Later in the report the author mentions that in the storing process of the debark waste, fire occurs and it releases compounds that are toxic to the environment. After the trees are debarked, the next process is the magic,

where the raw material wood is turned into pulp. In the report of madehow.com, the author elaborates on the next process: “the resultant slurry is sent to a 60-ft (18.3-m)-tall pressure cooker called a digester. During the cooking, which can last up to three hours, much of the moisture in the wood is evaporated” (Toilet Paper). It is hard to imagine what a 60 ft tall digester can do with so much power kept in the container. When searching for a wood cooking digester, numerous brands of pulp cookers pop up to the very front of the webpage recommending their equipment, but barely any of them mentioned what waste their machines would produce on a daily basis. According to SpringerOpen, “ in general only a few percent of the wood sources are utilized for the actual pulp and paper production, the rest is discarded as solid and liquid waste.”(Haile et al.) This information helps in the understanding of what’s the outcome of the pulp cooking process. While the powerful pressure cooker produces large amounts of pulp, after not in a very efficient way. When digging deeper into the article, most of the waste that came out of the pulp cooker was left in the landfill, not even recycling plans were made to deal with the waste. Later the article also brings up all the aspects of harm that this waste can cause, some of the examples were “harm to aquatic life, disturbs the food chain, and also causes various health implications.”(Haile et al.) Compared to the first stage of toilet paper’s life cycle (the waste that comes from the production is simply airborne particulates) this stage of manufacturing releases waste that harms layers of the environment and the general health of humans and other living organisms.

After the toilet paper is made and ready to be used, transportation plays the role of both bringing the toilet paper to the retailers and from the retailers to each individual’s homes. In the report of Buildings, the author mentioned the difficulty in tracking the

transportation of toilet paper, because it is extremely difficult to find every location the toilet paper has to travel before it lands in an individual's home. While there are plenty of difficulties in checking every toilet paper’s location and type of vehicles that were involved in the process, some numbers and locations can be assigned as examples in order to roughly get ideas of the waste that comes from the transportation. For example, the distance between the city of Sacramento and UC Davis is roughly 15 miles. According to Reuters.com, the medium, heavy weight trucks create 20% greenhouse gas emissions but they only cover 5% of the road fleet.(Sanicola) In another report, Freightwaves.com, the writer mentions that: “ the average trucker drives about 120,000 miles per year (400 miles per day, six days a week, 50 weeks per year) and averages about 6.5 miles per gallon of diesel.”(Sharkey) With the information above, a delivery truck would in average travel a shocking 4000 round trips from Sacramento to Davis. In a report of Theconversation.com, the writer discussed that the average CO2 production of a diesel car is around 120g per Km. After calculation, a rough estimate of 2897 grams of CO2 is released by a truck traveling from Sacramento to UC Davis. After all, the distribution of toilet paper creates unimaginable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and other waste. In many cases it is extremely difficult to get to the right amount of waste the trucks actually produced.

Now that the toilet paper has arrived in people’s homes, what happens next? What happens to the toilet paper after people use them, and the wraps that people throw away? One thing intriguing about the United States, in comparison to other countries around the world, is that people flush the used toilet paper down the toilet rather than throwing it away. According to the report of Fair Planet, “ The world

per-capita consumption of toilet paper is around 4 kilograms per year, ranging from 23 kilograms in North America to 0.4 kilograms in African countries.”(Braungart). With the 4 kilograms of toilet paper average individuals use around the globe every year, how people treat the used toilet paper is crucial to how the waste will affect the environment. The most common method of treating the used toilet paper is either by flushing it down the toilet, or storing it in a bag and later throwing it to the garbage. Later in the report of Fair Planet, the writer discusses the complicated cleaning process of the toilet paper if the goal is to recycle the used paper. One of the things that make this process more complicated than people would think is the substances that can possibly cause harm to people and the environment would be in the new recycled toilet paper. According to the report, “heavy metals and mineral oils that can be toxic to human and environmental health. They adhere to paper fibers and contaminate recycled paper, or are water-soluble and contaminate water.”(Braungart) Since the recycling option of the waste treatment of toilet paper can cause some head scratching, what is the waste treatment if the toilet paper is flushing down the toilet? According to sciencefocus.com, the toilet paper’s fiber will untangle with the flow of water and finally arrive at the treatment station. In this process it is reported that the toilet paper actually causes possible harm to the water system. In a report of theguadians.com, all the chemicals inside of the toilet paper release toxic chemicals that will produce a large amount of water pollution.

In the end, a life of something as simple toilet paper is quite eventful. From the raw material extraction of paper, all the way to the disposal of the toilet paper, various forms of waste are produced. These various forms of waste include the airborne

particulates from the chainsaws that affect the air quality and threaten human health; the solid waste and liquid waste that comes from the manufacturing. Getting rid of this form of waste creates even more toxic chemicals that are airborne; the greenhouse gasses from the trucks transporting the paper; as well as the water pollution that comes from the flushing of used toilet paper. After researching on the topic of the waste from toilet paper, something shocking was the amount and variation of waste that comes from people simply using a roll of toilet paper. In conclusion, and now with the paper in mind, to save the planet and ourselves from more harm, each individual should do their part in being careful and saving their use of toilet paper.

Bibliography:

Rayonier.com. “Why Trees Are Irreplaceable in the Paper Products Industry.” Rayonier Stories, 14 Oct. 2022, https://www.rayonier.com/stories/using-paper-toilet-paper-and-cardboard-is-good-for-fores ts/.

Sides, Bob. “Professional Tree Removal Tools and Equipment.” Garden Power Tools, 15 Jan. 2019, https://gardenpowertools.co.uk/blog/professional-tree-removal-equipment/#:~:text=Chains aw,and%20an%20 electric%2d Powered%20 chainsaw.

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“Toilet Paper.” How Products Are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Toilet-Paper.html.

Haile, Adane, et al. “Pulp and Paper Mill Wastes: Utilizations and Prospects for High Value-Added Biomaterials - Bioresources and Bioprocessing.” SpringerOpen, Springer

Singapore, 29 Apr. 2021, https://bioresourcesbioprocessing.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40643-021-00385-3.

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Sanicola, Laura. “Exclusive-Amazon Orders Hundreds of Trucks That Run on Natural Gas.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 6 Feb. 2021, https://www.reuters.com/article/amazon-engines-natural-gas-idINKBN2A60PF.

Sharkey, Grace. “What Is the Carbon Footprint of a Truck?” FreightWaves, 9 Apr. 2021, https://www.freightwaves.com/news/what-is-the-carbon-footprint-of-a-truck.

Paul Nieuwenhuis Senior Lecturer and Co-Director, and Aonghus McNabola Associate Professor in Civil and Structural Engineering. “Fact Check: Are Diesel Cars Really More Polluting than Petrol Cars?” The Conversation, 6 Oct. 2022, https://theconversation.com/fact-check-are-diesel-cars-really-more-polluting-than-petrol-ca rs-76241.

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Villazon, Luis. “What Happens to Toilet Paper?” BBC Science Focus Magazine, BBC Science Focus Magazine, 4 Dec. 2020, https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-happens-to-toilet-paper/.