Australian users - the environment counts
Kathy
McKenzie
Kathy McKenzie is a writer who lives in country New South Wales,
about two hours' drive from Sydney but 100 km from the nearest
supermarket.
I do have a comment to make about dunny paper and stuff. They
package recycled paper in plastic and that drives me crazy. I
would never buy it. I only buy recycled dunny paper packaged in
paper. No special brand, just whatever's the cheapest.
I don't really look at the price; I probably pay a bit more
for the recycled paper but as long as it's not too different I'll
buy it. And I get the unbleached, beige paper. You hear conflicting
stories about this but the bleaching process must use a lot of
power and water. I'd like it to be labelled better with an energy
rating. I read food labels carefully and avoid things with junk
in them and electrical products are labelled with an energy rating.
This is all very regulated today in Australia - so why not the
same for tissue paper? I'd certainly read a rating system on paper
to know if it was more environmentally friendly.
I do make an exception when we have large family gatherings
here - then I just buy cheap toilet rolls and tissues because
they seem to go through so much.
I buy everything in bulk so that I don't have to go to the supermarket
more than once a month. I hate shopping. Tissues - I just buy
the cheapest, supermarket brands, Aldi or Big W where you can
buy things in large quantities. I don't buy pocket tissues; they
seem an awful waste of money. I just grab a few from the box.
We don't use kitchen towels very much, just for washing and
drying food, fish especially, and for getting the fat off food
when it's cooked.
Herschel Smith
Herschel Smith is an Australian painter,
decorator and colour consultant and insists he doesn't like white.
For years he has been buying recycled toilet tissue which is produced
by Merino Pty in Queensland and endorsed by Planet Ark, an Australian
environmental organization.
I like this product because it is not packaged in plastic and
it's not bleached. It's endorsed by Planet Ark; they are people
who are into the whole concept of what's good for the earth, for
sustainability. And it's not white. Why does toilet paper need
to be white? This stuff works; it's not soft and fluffy but it's
better than sandpaper. It's two-ply, according to the packet.
Can you get four-ply toilet paper? I don't really see why you
would need it anyway.
It's true, it's very clever marketing what they have done here.
It doesn't say how it is made or what from. But I've been buying
it since it came out and you tend to stick to what you like. I
don't look at prices, even with today's problems.
At the club where I sail (Herschel spends a lot of time on his
sailing boat and at the club) they have horrible stuff. It's packaged
like tissues in boxes but it's slippery and you can't get hold
of it. It's like greaseproof paper, awful! I'm not sure why they
buy it -I'm told it's in the Ladies too. Cheap I suppose. But
that's going a bit far.
Yes I buy tissues. You have to keep them in the bedroom and
the bathroom, don't you, but I don't buy anything special. You
can pick them up anywhere. And kitchen towel? I don't use them
very much.
Wendy and Jack Murray
Wendy and Jack Murray are a retired couple
living in Pittwater to the north of Sydney. Wendy is an enthusiastic
sailor and parrot lover.
Wendy: I have one brand of tissues and loo rolls that I buy
and it is always the same. Jack objects to patterns; we like plain,
unperfumed, unpatterned and soft. And with paper towels, the most
absorbent, preferably plain, but the most important thing is that
they are absorbent. This is important for cleaning surfaces and
very important for girls with boats! For cleaning the outside
of the windows, cabin roofs, wiping up engine oil, shining the
metal and winches. I probably use more than the average if you
include the boat. I also use it for Bertie (their pet scaly-breasted
lorikeet) to line the cage.
The toilet paper we buy is Kleenex, I think it is Cottonelle.
It's not cheap but at the stage of life we are at, we're not struggling,
we don't have to buy cheap brands. We use lots of tissues, plain,
white Kleenex. It's not actually brand loyalty, it's habit. If
I'd started off with Sorbent I'd probably still get those. I do
all my shopping on-line with Coles and I just tick the same boxes
each time. I usually buy nine paper towels in a hit, two lots
of eight toilet rolls and four boxes of tissues. We pay for delivery
so do this about once a month.
I buy pocket tissues too, to keep in the car mainly.
I don't
think about the environment;
I probably should more. Given our health/age situation (Jack is
87 years old, Wendy suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome) we
have enough problems to think about without worrying about the
environment.
Laura MacDonald
Laura MacDonald is a pianist and music
teacher and a mother of two young children. She has spent a lot
of time in Italy but now lives in Sydney. She is pictured here
with her 10-month-old son, Dylan, wearing his 'swimming' nappy.
I get through an awful lot of wet ones with the children - for
cleaning them up and wiping the surfaces that they make dirty.
It makes life a lot easier than using a cloth and rinsing it out
all the time.
We use a lot of nappies too so there I'm definitely adding to
landfill. I've just put Dylan in one of his 'swimming' nappies.
They're not really made for that but they have elasticated sides
and are less bulky so they are much better for swimming. We tried
to buy them in Italy but they didn't know what we meant.
We are not very good for the environment I guess, but I do try
to buy recycled, unbleached toilet paper. It's really expensive
though so sometimes I go for the cheaper stuff. Kitchen towels
too - unbleached, recycled, but price does come into it.
I use tissues a bit with the children but wet ones are more
useful. I'm not a big tissue user. We have a couple of boxes around
the house but we don't really use them. My mum gets through a
box a day but I don't know what she does with them.
