Here's this week's Green & Thrifty Tip.
I am NOT paid to endorse or review products. So rest assured, I have no financial motive when I recommend a product. You'll get the unvarnished truth from my experiences with products.
Folks who are concerned about the environment(and who isn't these days?) have decisions to make when shopping. Usually the big choice boils down to this one....Do you use the product that does the least harm to the environment or do you use the product that does the least harm to your financial bottom line.
Face it, most 'green' products come with a bigger price tag than 'regular' products. Buying 'green' is not cheap and often times the products are not all that 'green' either. Being 'green' has become the new hype companies use to get more of the GREEN stuff(money) out of YOU! When you can find something that truly strives to be 'green' & satisfies BOTH your conscience AND your wallet, that is HUGE!
Even if you are concerned with the environment, most people don't want to or can't conceive of give up using ALL paper products. You can give up paper napkins in lieu of cloth napkins;you can give up paper plates & use 'real' plates. But most folks can't see giving up using toilet tissue. Ah, there's the 'green' consumer's rub.....until now.
Marcal has come out with a line of paper products called SMALL STEPS. The company claims that No trees are destroyed in the making of these products. They are made from 100% premium recycled paper ONLY! If you buy the single roll size, even the outer wrapper is a paper product and can be composted! The larger packages DO have a plastic outer wrapper but I read on the wrapper that it CAN be recycled as a #4! Think of all those toilet paper wrappers being thrown into landfills each day....Charmin, Scott, Cottonelle, etc. If they would all go to a recyclable packaging, that's a TON of material we wouldn't have to dump into the earth!
Not only is this Marcal SMALL STEPS product better for the environment by not causing the destruction of the earth's forests, it is whitened WITHOUT Chlorine Bleach, so no harsh chemicals are used to make this product white. I don't know the specifics of the whitening process but since it's recycled paper to begin with, it's already been bleached in it's previous life, right? There isn't much whitening left to perform on it.
SMALL STEPS products are also Hypoallergenic with no Dyes or Fragrances added. I don't like my toilet paper colored or scented up, how about you? This would be a great product for all those folks out there who are allergic to chemical produced fragrances and artifical colorings.
I've used the toilet tissue, the facial tissue & the paper napkins in this line. In my experience, all are as good or better than other brands of the same items. They are sturdy but soft and get the job done.
As far as price goes, this line of Marcal products is comparable in price to other brands. Marcal has been releasing coupons regularly for this new line, making the products an even better deal for your wallet. Let's hope they continue to offer coupons to keep the price you pay lower, if you choose to use the coupons that make available.
As you can see in the photo below, I have been picking up the Small Steps products as I get coupons for it, giving me quite the toilet paper & facial tissue stockpile. Behold my Pyramid of Paper in progress.....lol
If you don't see the Small Steps line in your store, check out the Marcal website HERE to see where it's currently available. Or ask your local store manager to carry it.
No harsh chemicals, dyes or fragrance, good price, no trees cut down and even the packaging is recyclable. Sounds like a win/win/win/win/win to me!
Sluggy
Good to know :) I've seen the coupons, but not so many of the products at the stores I shop. I'll keep looking.
ReplyDeleteEven less guilt if you almost stop using toilet paper: This covers all the bases = saves you money, helps the environment, helps your health, makes you feel better, it's so easy to do and it costs less than $50.00; Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: "if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn't wipe it off with paper, would you? You'd wash it off” Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won't even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without felling guilty. It's cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. You'll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won't know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge. The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways. Blog;http://jeff9.livejournal.com/932.html
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