It might love your bum, but does it love the environment?

It may sound like an impertinent question: does your loo paper really need to be quite so bright and fluffy?

But it's serious, according to green pressure group WWF (formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature), who say too much virgin fibre from the world's forests is used in toilet tissue, when recycled fibre would be just as good.

The group says that according to a new study, while major tissue manufacturers have improved their performance, they are still not yet producing enough environmentally friendly goods. They need to make a greater effort to reduce the impact of their products on the world's forests.

The charity ranked the five toilet tissue manufacturers that make up 75 per cent of the European market according to their environmental credentials. SCA Tissue, the maker of Naturelle and Velvet, were ranked top in the criteria, which scored companies on recycled content, wood-sourcing practices, pollution control and transparency.

It scored 69 per cent in the research while Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Andrex and Kleenex, scored 40 per cent and Procter & Gamble, maker of Bounty and Charmin, scored 34 per cent. Georgia Pacific, which makes Lotus and Nouvelle in the UK, came last in the WWF research with just 26 per cent.

"At a time when the world's natural forests are under an ever-increasing pressure it is essential that retailers should be offering the most environmentally-friendly tissue products to their customers," said Beatrix Richards, forests campaigner at WWF.

"The levels of recycled fibres being used in toilet paper, paper towels and napkins are still far too low. As a result, trees from natural forests and plantations around the world are chucked straight into our toilets and bins. The manufacturers themselves may be becoming more responsible but this must be matched by offering a greater range of responsible products."

According to WWF, SCA Tissue is the only surveyed company able to ensure a significant proportion of wood fibres it uses don't come from poorly managed forests.


Down the loo

* The European tissue business accounts for 26 per cent of global tissue consumption.

* Every year 25 million trees are used for toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, facial tissues and handkerchiefs for Europeans.

- INDEPENDENT