Who gives a crap, anyway? Most people don’t, but Who Gives A Crap is for the few who care about the planet. This company sells forest-friendly toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels. Because we don’t need to wipe our butts with virgin trees, right? But you can buy recycled toilet paper from Costco. So why buy from Who Gives a Crap?
Clean water and sanitation
Who Gives A Crap gives 50% of its profit to help build toilets and improve sanitation in corners of the world that are lacking the basic infrastructure most of us take for granted. They are a B Corporation. They work with organizations like WaterAid.org that keep water clean by installing basic toilets and sanitation.
“Specifically in relation to our donations, part of the [B Corp] certification involved an independent assessment of our financial statements confirming our claim to donate at least 50% of profits to WaterAid,” according to Jessa on the Customer Happiness Team.
Good health
Clean water is essential because when there’s no toilet or proper sanitation, poopy germs end up in drinking water. That makes people sick, especially kids who are the most vulnerable.
“Diarrhea caused by dirty water and poor toilets kills a child under 5 every 2 minutes,” according to WaterAid.org.
Gender equality
But toilets and sanitation do more than just keep poop out of drinking water. They have a unique impact on girls and women. It’s hard enough being on your period in America with plenty of potty’s, now imagine being on your period without a toilet or running water in sight. It’s a big reason girls drop out of school when they hit puberty. Young women simply have to stay home one week out of the month. They leave their homes at night to clean up unseen. Now that’s some perspective for the next time you’re having a bad period day.
Another reason girls drop out of school is that someone has to make the long walk to get clean water for the family. Those girls grow up and become mommies. Mommies with an education have fewer, healthier and more well-educated children. When you see the problems facing girls in the poorest pockets of the world, toilets kind of seem revolutionary, don’t you think?
Recycled toilet paper prevents deforestation
Then there’s the problem with deforestation. Most toilet paper comes from virgin trees. Chopping down trees to turn into toilet paper that gets used for two seconds, then gets flushed down the toilet is crazy, right? Tree, TP, flush. What a waste. The same goes for paper towels and tissues. Tree, wipe, trash.
Instead of using virgin trees, Who Gives A Crap sells papers made from recycled paper and bamboo. They all come in well-designed packages so they look cool in your bathroom. And as my husband pointed out last night, there are potty jokes on the empty rolls, so that’s fun.
Here’s what they sell:
Why buy WGAC recycled toilet paper?
Who Gives A Crap says, “Our 3-ply is as soft as unicorn kisses and as strong as 1000 ponies.” They have a great copywriter, but I’m not sure I agree that it’s quite as soft as unicorn kisses. It may be as strong as 1000 ponies. Anyway, it’s a perfectly functional toilet paper. It’s all 3-ply and 400 sheets per roll.
“If you’re looking for the product with the absolute lowest footprint, go with the recycled – it’s a lower energy conversion process as there is no step to convert bamboo (or wood!) into a pulp first,” according to Jessa on the
Customer Happiness Team.
Pricing – with free shipping
- 24 rolls at $30 = $1.25 per roll, or $0.31 cents per 100 sheets
- 48 rolls at $48 = $1 per roll, or $0.25 cents per 100 sheets
Pricing – with rural $8 shipping
- 24 rolls at $38 = $1.58 per roll, or $0.39 cents per 100 sheets
- 48 rolls at $56 = $1.16 per roll, or $0.29 cents per 100 sheets
Bamboo toilet paper
We haven’t tried this one, because it’s more expensive, but they say, “Our softest loo roll ever— it’s like wiping with clouds.” If you ever wanted to wipe with clouds, here’s your chance. Let me know what you think.
Free Shipping
48 rolls at $56 = $1.16 per roll, or $31 cents per 100 sheets
Rural $8 Shipping Zone
48 rolls at $64 = $1.33 per roll, or $36 cents per 100 sheets
Bamboo tissues and paper towels
We have the bamboo tissues, and they are perfectly lovely for blowing our noses on. The company says no trees were harmed and no inks, dyes, or scents were used in any of their products. Which I think is great. I don’t need bright white paper towels. The towels are strong, they serve their purpose before being thrown away, and I feel a lot less guilty using these than the virgin-tree-based stuff from Costco.
And guilty is the thing we feel when we realize our TP used to be the home for fuzzy little forest creatures, right? I’ve been writing a lot about brands and stories lately, and this is another example of a great brand with a compelling story. Yes, Who Gives A Crap is a bit more expensive than the stuff you get at Costco. But what we buy is not always about price is it? Sometimes it’s about the story. Because if all our purchasing decisions were made on price, we’d all be driving the Toyota Yaris, not Tesla’s and BMW’s.
Note: Prices above are based on information from the company on November 6, 2018, and may change at any time.
Updated on March 29, 2020