We, at Sustainable Jungle love standing up (or in this case sitting down) for sustainable brands we believe in and that believe in a less wasteful, more impactful lifestyle.
And today, I’m sharing my Who Gives A Crap toilet paper review.
Who Gives A Crap (WGAC) is an eco-friendly toilet paper company that’s been changing the way we wipe for quite some time now. They provide a tree-free way to be less wasteful about your wiping and donate 50% of profits to help everyone get access to clean water and a toilet.
I started using WGAC toilet paper a couple of years ago, and haven’t looked back. Here’s my honest thoughts on my experience using Who Gives A Crap toilet paper and what I think of them overall as a sustainable and ethical brand.
If you want to learn more about this brand, have a listen to our podcast episode with the founder, Simon Griffiths here.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
Contents: Who Gives A Crap Toilet Paper Review
- About Who Gives A Crap & Their Toilet Paper Jump to section
- My Personal Who Gives A Crap Toilet Paper Review Jump to section
- The Benefits Of Bulk Toilet Paper Jump to section
- Who Gives A Crap Sustainability, Ethics & Controversy Jump to section
- Let’s Roll Out the Overall WGAC Review Verdict Jump to section
About Who Gives A Crap & Their Toilet Paper
Who Gives A Crap’s toilet paper is recycled. “Recycled” meaning it is made, not from used toilet paper, but from 95% post-consumer waste paper and 5% post-industrial paper (i.e. newspaper, textbooks, office paper, etc.).
Traditional TP, on the other hand, is made directly from virgin tree pulp, creating a vicious tree to toilet pipeline.
Some estimate that a whopping 27,000 trees are flushed down the toilet every day and others say it’s more like 1 million a day.
In the words of Who Gives a Crap, “A tree’s only purpose should not be wiping our bums! They have so much more to offer!”.
Who Gives a Crap also offers sustainably-sourced bamboo toilet paper that’s not recycled, which also comes in “tree-free” Premium 3-ply Rolls. While not as eco as recycled toilet paper (and a little more expensive), it’s stronger and softer: “like wiping with clouds”.
Both options are free of dyes and perfumes so if you (like me) have adjusted to a less fragranced world, this will suit you just fine and make for non-toxic toilet paper overall. Honestly, who needs toilet paper that smells sort of like roses?
My Personal Who Gives A Crap Toilet Paper Review
Some recycled or bamboo toilet papers honestly feel recycled or like they’re made from bamboo (and not in a good way). We can honestly say Who Gives a Crap toilet paper is quality.
I’ve tried both the bamboo and recycled varieties and found both to be equally effective. First, they’re both 3-ply (most are only 2-ply), meaning they’re strong and rip-resistant, or in the company’s words has a low “poke-through-rate”.
As for softness, no scratching or cringing going on here, I would never have known it was recycled in a blind feel test. While I’m not sure if it’s quite “as soft as unicorn kisses and as strong as 1000 ponies” like they claim (mostly because we’re not sure how soft and strong those things are), we’re confident in saying it’s absolutely soft enough and very strong. I’ve experience no poke throughs and no sore bum…
The great thing is they don’t sacrifice softness for flush-ability like many luxury-soft traditional TPs. Because they pulp clean the fibers at high temperatures, their rolls are entirely biodegradable and septic safe.
The premium bamboo toilet paper is definitely softer, although the difference to me was not enough to switch to bamboo. Even though theirs is ethically sourced, we would rather use paper materials already in existence if possible.
The Benefits Of Bulk Toilet Paper
Other than their sample packs, Who Gives a Crap bulk orders are standard. In fact, the smallest batch you can get is 24 rolls, but we recommend opting for the larger 48 roll box. For those of you who live in small apartments, we get this may not be ideal, but just think how many CO2 emissions are avoided by fewer shipments.
Plus, it also helps further bring down the cost of toilet paper. Part of the core company philosophy is to provide an affordable yet sustainable eco-friendly product. While more expensive than basic TP, they’re still cheaper than luxury rolls and definitely cheaper than other bamboo and recycled TPs.
Budget breakdown: We buy the larger 48-roll boxes, which breaks down to $1.16 per roll for regular orders or just under $1 per roll if you subscribe. Since each roll has 400 sheets, that $1 lasts a while. If you aren’t sold, they’ll even give you free shipping.
Who Gives A Crap Sustainability, Ethics & Controversy
Climate Commitments
WGAC have performed a Life Cycle Analysis of their products in 2022 to determine their total carbon output—70,605 metric tons CO2e, the equivalent of 15,213 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles being driven for one year.
They’re using these baseline metrics to develope a plan for reducing it. So far, they’ve started by incorporating electric vehicles and renewable energy in their supply chain.
Packaging
Well, each roll comes wrapped in snazzy patterned paper. That might seem excessively wasteful, but each wrapping, while not yet made of recycled materials, is 100% compostable.
For those who don’t have composters, the colorful paper can still be reused in tons of ways, like kids crafts, zero waste gift wrapping, or even dog doo bags (which is what SJ founders, Joy & Lyall do with them). For a bit of a laugh, each wrapper even comes with some ideas for reuse printed on it. The outer cardboard boxes for shipping also come without fillers or plastic of any kind.
All that is to say Who Gives a Crap TP and wrapping is a whole lot more sustainable than your average plastic covered store-bought version.
Manufacturing Controversy
Something that has raised a bit of controversy locally in Australia but also globally: Who Gives A Crap make their toilet paper in China.
This is because China allows them to use paper wrappers and recycled boxes (something Australian production wasn’t able to provide). There’s also better access to raw materials needed for toilet paper production (both bamboo and post consumer waste paper) and costs are ultimately lower.
WGAC has released an FAQ on the topic of China here where they explain how they’re ensuring ethical production and treatment of workers. For example, all partners are third party audited.
WGAC is looking for production opportunities in other countries and has made some transitions.
As of 2023, Who Gives a Crap paper towels and tissues are made in the UK. They now also offer garbage and poo bags which are made in Portugal, where their supplier has an on-site recycling facility.
Overall, we at Sustainable Jungle think the controversy is unwarranted and WGAC’s reasons for China-based manufacture are fair and in line with their mission. And while every brand can do more to manage their supply chains, WGAC are making compelling efforts to do so.
Charity Work
Primarily a social impact company, WGAC’s entire mission is charitable, so much so that they donate 50% of their profits to fund sanitation projects in the developing world.
They work with an impressive list of impact partners, including WaterAid, Sanergy, Lwala Community Alliance, Shofco, and WaterSHED to build toilets for the 2.3 billion people (40% of the world!) without proper bathroom access. To date, they’ve donated over $9 million since their launch.
Certifications & Memberships
Who Gives A Crap is a Certified B Corp and has the full FSC Chain-of-Custody certification, meaning their entire supply chain is certified.
Let’s Roll Out the Overall WGAC Review Verdict
For us, Who Gives a Crap is one of the sustainable few that tick almost all the boxes, the kind that care enough about doing good (for you, the earth and the people of the earth) to do it extremely well. They perfectly represent our philosophy that small things make a big difference.
Their toilet paper is perfectly functional and their offering of bulk buys makes them more affordable too.
So overall, do we approve? Yes, I’d say that’s a resounding yes.
I have researched a lot of articles on the Internet and I can’t find Any information on how it is made. Does the original recycled Paper have the bleach/chlorine removed? If so how how is the final product made into a white colour
Hi Louise. I believe they do still whiten the paper: https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-au/articles/360035166874-Whitening-agents
As for the removal of bleach/chlorine, I’m not sure. Based on this article, they suggest they don’t source waste paper from sources that would include bleach or chlorine but you’d need to ask them to be sure: https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-au/articles/360035166774-100-Recycled-Toilet-Paper
If you are affiliated with the company whose product you are a reviewing does it make for a true review?
Hi Ruby, totally fair to be sceptical and great that you’re holding content providers accountable. It is a fine balance to feature only sustainable brands that we genuinely support while making this website viable to the extent that we can pay our team. We think we do a pretty good job of this and we will always remove any brand that we feel doesn’t fit the bill from a sustainability and/or ethical perspective, even if the affiliate relationship looks attractive. In the case of WGAC, this article was written long before we became affiliates and we personally use WGAC and continue to support the brand. That said, we do encourage readers to do their own research to ensure any brand they support fits in with their own values. If you’re trying to decide if WGAC is right for you, our interview with the co-founder might be useful?
WGAC won an informal contest in my kitchen against Scott RV. The WGAC recycled t.p. broke down waaaay faster than the Scott RV paper. I’d attach the photo evidence if I could here. If you live in an RV like I do at the moment, then having T.P. that isn’t going to clog your blackwater system is paramount. While I prefer to know the precise post-consumer waste content myself, when it comes to RV tp, there’s really no competition in the eco-conscious market so I guess WGAC wins already hands down. 7th Gen utterly destroyed my system….learned the hard (and expensive) way! I’m converted
Wow thats amazing, great to know for future RV trips, thanks Segue!
another wonderful thing about tissues Hubby left one in the pocket went thro the washing mahine and dryer did not fall apart!
A very happy WGAC customer – have been buying for years. Very interested in the latest ‘run’ on folks getting bogged down in getting caught short, in fact on the trot for a decent poo ticket
I do appreciate this is supposedly not a sponsored post, this company is engaging in deceptive practices.
Have you noticed they have like 16,000 reviews, but there’s no way to actually leave a review?
There’s also only 4-5 star reviews being left for over a year.
They’re paying a company called Yotpo to have AI generate fake positive reviews. I realized this after I went to their website to leave a review of the absolutely garbage quality paper towels.
I REALLY wanted to love their products and do at least a little to support a decent cause, but the TP and paper towels are such awful quality that it’s really hard to do. Finding they’re paying for fake reviews was the last straw. I can’t support a business that does things like this.
Hi Brooks,
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. This post is not sponsored, I assure you. We genuinely use WGAC toilet paper and really like it. I found that I coulnd’t write a review on their site either because I did not buy directly from their website (we buy it from our local grocer) – could this be what happened to you? Perhaps you need to log in to submit a review, either way, probably worth reaching out to them to ask how you can leave a genuine review. Also Yotpo is an app that only collects reviews, not generates them – simply a plug in for ecommerce stores so I highly doubt they’re paid to generate fake 5 stars reviews (see here https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews and here: https://www.yotpo.com/) but again, if you’re concerned, why not write to them and ask?
WGAC offer a money back guarantee so if you’re that unhappy, suggest you email them and ask for your money back. There are also other places you can leave a review that are completely independent of WGAC so maybe add your feedback there where WGAC can respond to you. We’re not associated with WGAC in any way so they will probably never see this feedback from you on this page, which would be a shame:
https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/who-gives-a-crap-toilet-paper
https://au.trustpilot.com/review/whogivesacrap.org
Whoa! There are a few important points that this article doesn’t consider.
1. Nothing on the Who Gives a Crap web site says that their toilet paper is made from a high percentage of post-consumer waste, which is the gold-standard for lowest environmental impact. “100% recycled” in the US paper product market is generally made from industrial “recycled” products: sawmill trimmings, scraps, and chips created in the processing of logs. If not made into paper, these materials would almost certainly become building materials and the carbon would be embodied into houses and office buildings. “Post-consumer recycled” is quite different: it’s the paper that you put in the recycle bin or that printers recycle from what they trim from their products. If not turned into paper, the only other way to divert it from the landfill is to use it for mulch (which can be made out of many, many kinds of waste materials. Most of the other toilet papers that have low environmental impact list their post-consumer recycle content prominently on each package. To find more of these, see the NRDC review at
2. Nothing in this article discusses the bleaches used in toilet paper. I’ve not been able to find any information on whether Who Gives a Crap paper uses chorine bleach, which basically results in putting poison into the waterways. If it’s not discussed, then it’s quite possible that this paper uses chlorine instead of the environmentally benign alternatives.
3. Who Gives a Crap is made in China. It’s quite possible that this company can ensure that the environmental and social justice impacts of their factories are as high as those in the US or Canada, but many international companies have struggled with this problem for a very, very long time. When I try to drill down on this by following the link in this article, I get an web error (non-existing page, at https://support.whogivesacrap.org/article/426-where-is-all-of-this-made) on their web site. Due to this and other issues about disclosure and transparentcy, many people with environmental concerns just avoid Chinese products.
4. On top of that, the transportation impacts of this paper are probably higher than many alternatives. This isn’t discussed on their web site, but their supply chain is very long, and low-volume at the tail end. This often (but not always) equates to a higher transporation carbon footprint.
5. Their web site doesn’t disclose a large amount of what I consider important information: post-consumer waste percentage, use of chorine,
They also state things as fact when in many cases the opposite may be true. For instance, their blog on garbage disposal impacts (https://blog.whogivesacrap.org/home/goodnews/2) says that most kitchen garbage going to landfills leads to methane release to the environment, and if send down the sewer, the resulting methane is either flared off or released. In my town, the exact opposite is true (which is the case for most of my state). And see the note above in my point #3 about the dead link to their web site.
When I run the numbers to compare this product to others ranked by the NRDC report, this looks like a solid C (but could be higher if more information were available). This puts it behind six other papers graded A and two with a B grade. I will say that this is a company that has great potential. They’re great marketers. Their product seems to be well-liked. I like that they are a B Corporation, and they seem to be funding good things in the developing world. If they would clean up their act on transparency and truly demonstrating how green their product is, as does their competition, then I’ll be a believer.
Hi Fred, maybe reach out to them directly if you’re concerned although maybe best to check the website again? Looks like they do address many (if not all) your points. For example:
I found this on their website with a quick search (re your point 1):
“That’s why our recycled toilet tissue is made from 100% recycled paper. This includes post-consumer waste paper (things like textbooks, workbooks, office paper, etc) and a small percentage (around 5%) of post-industrial paper. This means offcuts from nearby paper factories which our partners buy and re-purpose to make tissue paper. By using recycled paper, we’re reducing our CO2 and particulate matter emissions, as well as saving water.” (https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-us/articles/360035166774-100-Recycled-Toilet-Paper)
And this re your point 3:
“We take pride in having an active role in our manufacturing process. Unlike a lot of brands, we visit each production facility several times per month to make sure that all of our products are made ethically, sustainably, and with the utmost quality assurance.
At our request, our recycled paper producer has been independently audited and certified under the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) accreditation scheme, and by the BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative). The FSC accreditation is predominantly an environmental certification, and the BSCI audit focuses on driving social compliance and improvements in global supply chain management. The audit scored our producer the highest grade achievable across multiple categories: workers rights, freedom of association and collective bargaining, no discrimination, no child labour, no precarious employment, no bonded labour, and overall ethical business behaviours. We know it’s a mouthful, but supporting positive work environments is something that’s incredibly important to us… so excuse us for bragging a little bit.” (https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-us/articles/360035167934-How-do-you-ensure-good-working-conditions-and-wages-)
It sounds like you need more comfort than we could give (which is great, good on you!) so would recommend getting in touch with them!
Hi Fred, regarding your point #2, here’s information on their website regarding whitening of toilet paper without using bleach, where they mention:
“Our recycled toilet paper is whitened and strengthened with hydrogen peroxide (H202), an eco-friendly alternative that turns back into water (H20) when the manufacturing process is finished. Our bamboo is whitened with elemental-free chlorine. Our chlorine, unlike its traditional cousin, is chemically bound to oxygen so it doesn’t bioaccumulate. That just means living things don’t absorb it, so it’s a lot better for the environment.”
https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-us/articles/360035166874-Whitening-agents
Hi Fred T. Thank you so much for your post!!! And I thank all that that replied! I to was looking for information to back up their claims, that’s what led me to this site. I went through there site for more details and couldn’t find anything. It Never occurred to me to click “Support “?! I think ‘FAQ’ would be a better page name. Support to me meant help after a purchase was made. If not for the replies, I’d still be searching. I still think it’s a good idea to look for independent reviews. Anyone can say anything on the www.
where are all the comments
maybe no one gives a crap?
Touché or should I say…tush