Use tube-free toilet paper to cut down on waste

Guest post by Jane

tube free toilet paperI had a “baskets moment” concerning toilet paper. You can reduce bathroom trash and clutter by using cardboard tube-free toilet paper!

If you are like me, throwing the cardboard tubes in with the bathroom trash is not an option because they go into the recycle bin. So a line of empty tubes line up on my windowsill, and it’s just not pretty. We switched to the tube-free kind of toilet paper, and that problem disappeared.

It also helps if you have a European-style toilet paper holder because it’s very easy to slip on the new roll.

So there are no more empty tubes on the windowsill, and the holder makes it so easy to put on a new roll that even on the busiest of days anyone in the house can manage to do it!

Comments on Use tube-free toilet paper to cut down on waste

    • You’re overthinking it! There’s still a hole in the middle where a tube would normally be, so you slide the TP in the same as you would now. We have a traditional TP holder too and this is the only TP we’ll use now!

      • Oh ok! I was imagining the industrial size toilet paper rolls from the dorm bathrooms where there isn’t a hole. They were pressured in by these peg-like thingies.

  1. I’ve always kept a little recycle bin in the bathroom. TP tubes aren’t the only thing it collects. Think of all the boxes and instructions and product information inserts and stuff. Although, I am in total favor of tubeless TP, that’s a nice development =)

  2. We switched to TP that’s individually wrapped in paper and comes in a cardboard box so we don’t have to deal with non-recyclable plastic. We have a compost, garbage and recycling bin in both our bathrooms so we have no rolls of TP lining the window sills anymore!

  3. I can see how it saves you some space in your recycling bin, but I wonder how “eco-conscious” it really is. The toilet paper itself is 60% virgin material.

  4. I use my leftover roll as a toy for my guinea pigs- they like to gnaw on things, but are rather particular about what. So since they like the cardboard tubes, that’s our “recycling”.

  5. Just to play devils advocate, do remember that trees ARE a renewable resource. YES, its good to reduce waste, but I think it’s best to focus your major recycling/reusing/reducing efforts on those non-renewable non-biodegradable things. MANY MANY MANY products come from timber which is grown and sold for these purposes. The trees that are used to make these types of products come from farms (so it’s like a cash crop). OR they come from national or state forests. However, when they come from those forests, they should adhere to Better Land Management Practices (healthy forests should not be overpopulated or overgrown, so some thinning of trees is a good thing. It also reduces wildfire hazard too!) YES, there are instances where trees that should not be cut down are used for products, I’m sure. However, when you are purchasing products made from trees, you’re also helping to support a part of an overall agriculture industry. I come from a little town where we almost completely depend on the forestry industry and I work for a state forestry organization, so this is one of the issues I hold close to heart. Again, please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m all for responsible usage and would never promote flagrant waste. All I’m saying is maybe consider not getting so preoccupied with the paper stuff…

  6. I am the one who submitted the idea for this post- it was interpreted differently than I had in mind, but that is my fault for not being clear. This is a way to reduce clutter and save time when you have a small bathroom without room for its own recycling bin. This isn’t an environmental solution, but I do wish more companies would make TP like this, especially if it is 100% recycled! (Side note: whenever I’ve tried starting seedlings in empty TP tubes they’ve grown a rainbow of mold and fungus when the ones in newspaper right beside them didn’t.)

  7. I was quite happy to see this product a few months ago in the local grocery store — it’s only carried in select stores in certain geographic locations (or at least it was). I’ve run out of ability to reuse the empty tubes (as in, I’ve reused as many as I possibly can for the foreseeable future) and they’re classified as cardboard here, which is not recyclable in town, so I try to limit the cardboard I have to haul to the landfill’s recycling facility 20 miles away. I haven’t had any problems with these tubeless rolls and, most importantly for me, they’re not more expensive than the other toilet paper I’d use.

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