Toilet paper has been a hot commodity since the beginning of the pandemic. I mean, we all need to make sure our bums stay wiped, right? But it turns out Canadians like their TP a little too much – to the tune of 83 rolls per person per year.
QS Supplies "took a long, hard look into the world’s toilet bowl" and found that we're doing some serious damage to the environment with our toilet paper use. But, we're not as bad as some other countries.
According to QS Supplies, the countries that use the most toilet paper in the world are as follows:
- China
- United States
- Japan
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- Brazil
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- South Korea
Then in comes Canada in 11th place.
Individually, people in China use about half as much toilet paper per year as Canadians, but their much larger population means they use a massive amount of TP as a country.
Every year, each Canadian uses an average of 6,886 rolls of toilet paper, which sounds to me like most of us aren't sticking to the two-square rule that our parents ingrained in our heads when we were young.
And who knew the Portuguese used so much at an individual level? On average, every Portuguese person uses approximately 1035 km of toilet paper in their lifetime, which is more than any other nationality.
I guess we can say at least we're not as bad as some places in the world, like the United States, which cuts down 31.1 million trees for toilet paper every year. Meanwhile, in Canada, we need to cut over two million trees to keep up with our country's toilet paper usage every year.
This is why experts are telling us it’s time to ditch toilet paper.
"Paper doesn’t get you as clean as water. Faeces transmits diseases including cholera, hepatitis, E. coli, and maybe even coronavirus. More common TP-induced ailments include urinary tract infections and something bum doctors call "polished anus syndrome."
I guess that means bye-bye toilet paper, hello bidets.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.