When asked to source bathroom tissue for one of my clients I thought it would be easy to find a great product made from 100% post consumer recycled content. I was wrong. Lots of products and leading brands have family pack sizes but for individually wrapped product the options are pretty much nil. Up to last fall there were a couple products on the market, Cascades, I believe Canada's largest recycled paper products companies, and Seventh Generation, our friends in Vermont who've been leaders in the green cleaning and household products industry. After talking with my suppliers and sales reps it seemed as though the single wrapped products had been discontinued.
Wausau - recycled paper products
I had a feeling that Wausau had a product that would fit the bill. With no info about it on their website I was a bit suspect but I started digging anyways, talked with their head office and send in some inquiries looking for distributors and info for this product. Yesterday I got a call from a Baywest sales rep, they apparently distribute Wausau products in Vancouver, and got all the info I needed. I found a couple local janitorial supply companies to buy it from as I I'd need to buy containers full of this stuff to meet the distributors minimums. Turns out this product is green to the core, literally. Even the paper core is made out of recycled fibres! It's green seal certified, made from, wrapped with and around 100% recycled paper.
Where to buy?
Janitor's Warehouse at 100 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC - ph. 604.327.7708
SK Sanitary at 1841 Pandora St, Vancouver, BC - ph. 604.255.2727
Saul Good Gift Co - for green cleaning and new homeowners gifts - ph. 604.880.8398
Sustainable Packaging and Consumer Behaviour
Are you wondering why I had to source individually wrapped packages of bathroom tissue? Why couldn't I just source large multi packs and use the rolls from there, saving a bunch of packaging materials. The reason is consumer behaviour. When people receive products like this they want assurance that it's clean and safe for them to use. I do my best to use minimal and sustainable packaging in all our corporate gifts and promotions at Saul Good but understanding your market and consumer behaviour is all important to make it successful. If people don't use it, for whatever reason, it didn't work. Sometimes this means sacrifices but it's leading us in the right direction.
