Left: Sue Spooner with grandson Thomas.; Middle: Moni Winter on
the balcony of her flat in Freiburg.; Right: Jill Papadopoulos
with Sydney Opera House in the background
Sue Spooner
Sue
Spooner is a
social research consultant. She is an Australian who now lives
in Norwich, England, and she returns to Australia whenever possible,
several times a year.
White, toilet paper has to be white, because it is a waste to
have patterns, prints and colour; embossed is OK. I think white
must be better for the environment but I don’t really know why.
And I only buy recycled - that’s true for tissues and everything
else too. I know loo rolls and kitchen paper are made from recycled
although come to think of it I’m not sure about tissues. I’ll
have to look on the packet.
Why white? It seems fresher and cleaner and better for the environment.
And I don’t think bleaching is a problem; they are all bleached
anyway. I always buy the big packs, 9-12 in a pack. It’s better
value and it means only one trip to the supermarket. I don’t think
there is much difference in what you can buy between Australia
and England, although I think Australia is more environmentally
friendly than England. I tend not to buy paper tissues in little
packs because if I do they rattle around in my handbag and get
raggedy. I might keep a packet in the car, that’s all. Boxed tissues,
I always buy 2-3-ply and I never buy patterns or colours or impregnated
ones – aloe vera for example. In the guest bathroom I always have
one of those small, square boxes. They have a pretty design on
them and they look friendlier.
Napkins, I always buy no-frills, cheapest for everyday but nicer
ones, always white, if we have a barbeque in the garden. I wouldn’t
use paper ones for dinner parties, only real, cloth ones.
Now I’m a grandmother (Sue has 7 grandchildren, some in each
country) I’ve become much more aware of wet-ones. They are very
convenient and hygienic but I think they are over-used by the
Mums. I would just use water and a cloth to clean up a baby. But
nappies, diapers, I think are absolutely brilliant now. When I
had my children paper nappies were only just starting and we thought
cloth ones were much better for the environment . And my kids
had nappy rash. I’ve never seen any of my grandchildren with nappy
rash. That’s a real improvement.
Monica Winter
Monica
Winter is a teacher
of business and human resource education who lives in Freiburg,
Germany.
A few years ago there was a promotion in the shop which gave
away some toilet paper for free so I tried it and it was very
soft and I liked it. Then I read an article in Stiftung Warentest
(a consumer magazine) and it came out best so that’s what I buy
now. It’s called Charmin and on the packet it says it is tender,
super sensitive and absorbent and it is four-ply. It has extra
long rolls but I don’t care about that. It sometimes, especially
in winter-time, has a nice smell. Usually I buy white.
Paper tissues? Do I buy those? Yes, but not much, usually just
for cosmetics. I buy Kleenex because I know the name. I’ve never
bought supermarket brands but then I don’t use them much. I’m
very glad that I don’t get colds so I don’t need them. I get allergies
sometimes so I use them then but I get free ones from the pharmacy.
In Germany if you buy a lot things or expensive medicine from
a pharmacy they give you free ones with advertisements for medicines
on them. In fact I get fed up with getting tissues like this;
they should give you other things for free sometimes to get to
know new things.
I buy kitchen towels in the same way I choose toilet paper –
I got a free sample a few years ago, liked it and now buy almost
only those. Bounty brand. If I find a good product I continue
to use it; I see no reason to change. My mother buys cheaper brands
but they are less soft and absorbent than what I buy. I prefer
mine.
Nowadays you don’t seem to get so many free samples to try in
shops or your letter box. It’s a shame.
Jill Papadopoulos
Jill
Papadopoulos lives in Sydney and is a university lecturer. She
travels frequently to Greece but fairly extensively elsewhere
too.
I don’t buy any special brands but for tissues I like big ones,
white, and for me the boxes are more important than the tissues
themselves. I like boxes that are robust and have pictures of
shells, starfish and polar bears. And the boxes must be blue,
not pink. We keep boxes in the bedroom, in the study, in every
room really in the house. I do buy pocket tissues. Not patterned
or coloured and I don’t like those with impregnated smells. But
I do like the package to be robust so that it doesn’t come apart
in my handbag. I like those resealable ones so that they last
longer, Kleenex I think is what I usually buy. I was in Japan
recently and there they were giving away pocket tissues, nice
ones, with advertising on them, but I don’t know what they were
advertising. In Greece the gypsies, or probably Albanians today,
come around to the people in cars to sell tissues in packets.
They buy them in bulk and then sell them individually for a euro
or so. I usually buy them.
I always buy white; I don’t like colours. Not for environmental
reasons though, just that the colours are not nice – pale greens
and pinks. If I were thinking about the environment I guess I’d
buy recycled, hardboard, sandpaper toilet paper. But my husband
would hate it; he would notice.
I buy toilet paper at the supermarket, usually what is at eye
level. I buy big packets that I suppose are more economical –
Kleenex or Sorbent, No, I don’t compare prices or choose brands
but I do like something that is soft and textured. The ones that
are the nicest, Kleenex I think, are ridged, softer and more textured.
I don’t think it’s any more plies, just that the layers are thicker.
When my granddaughter was little we sometimes bought toilet
paper with puppies or dinosaurs on it but I don’t buy it now.
Once we were shopping together and we saw toilet paper with musical
notation on it. I thought this was really disrespectful to music
and told her that we would never buy this – in case music was
harmed in the production of this toilet paper.
