Georgia Pacific - Toilet Paper Manufacturer - To Lay Off 70 People

[Henry]

Georgia Pacific, a Plattsburgh company that makes Great Northern toilet paper and paper towels will be laying off 70 people - I doubt people are cutting back on the use of toilet paper.  We use Great Northern as it was suggested to us that it disintegrates better in the septic tank.  Below is a link to the layoff article:

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=9507229

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

Yes, it is depressing to see people loosing their jobs, but Henry, since you mentioned it, you really should be using a 100% recycled content toilet tissue. Everyone should. Trees are important and valuable for many reasons, but especially for absorbing CO2 out of our atmosphere while they are alive. We shouldn't be flushing them down our toilets. There are a few "green" toilet tissue brands out there on the shelves. Marcal comes to mind. Paper towels are another product they make. If you HAVE to use paper towels or napkins instead of cloth ones, then at least go green.

[Henry]

Hi Julie,
Not sure if you have a septic tank or are on Village Waste Treatment, but we used to use Charmin and after a couple of expensive pumpings, was talking to Bob Sweet who told me Great Northern was the best for breaking down in the Septic System.  Not sure how the brands are that you mention as I didn't see them mentioned, although a search on the internet stated in many cases Septic Tank Safe products do not always live up to their advertising.  It can end up in kind of an expensive experiment, so for the present, will most likely stick with a known commodity.

There are a number of articles if you Google Septic Tank Friendly Toilet Paper and below is one of them:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070109225342AAaOapy

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

Use a good quality toilet tissue that breaks up easily when wet. One way to find out is to put a hand full of toilet tissue in a fruit jar half full of water. Shake the jar and if the tissue breaks up easily, the product is suitable for the septic tank. High wet-strength tissues are not suitable. As long as the tissue breaks up easily, color has no effect on the septic tank. Many scented toilet tissues have high wet strength.

You should never flush facial tissues down the toilet because of this reason. I know single ply toilet tissue definitely breaks down easier than double ply. All of the recycled content toilet tissue I have ever used certainly pass the above test. We do have a septic system and have never had a problem in over 11 years. (and I have to add that we haven't been faithful about having it cleaned out regularly)