How is toilet paper made: traditional vs bamboo

How Is Toilet Paper Made? From Raw Material to Finished Roll

Most of us use toilet paper without giving a second thought to where it comes from or how it ends up on the shelf. But the production process behind this everyday essential is more involved than you might expect. So how is toilet paper made, what is toilet paper made of, and where is toilet paper made? Let's walk through the entire journey, from raw material to the roll in your bathroom.

What Is Toilet Paper Made Of?

The raw material used to make toilet paper depends on the type. There are three main categories:

Virgin Wood Pulp

The majority of toilet paper sold worldwide is made from virgin wood pulp. This means fresh timber, typically a blend of softwood (spruce, pine, fir) and hardwood (birch, eucalyptus, acacia). Softwood fibres are long and give the paper its strength, while hardwood fibres are shorter and contribute to a softer feel. The two are blended in carefully controlled ratios to achieve the right balance.

Recycled Paper

Recycled toilet paper is made from post-consumer waste paper, such as old office documents, newspapers, and magazines. The waste paper is broken down, de-inked, and reprocessed into new pulp. While recycled toilet paper is better for the environment than virgin wood products, it often feels rougher and may contain traces of BPA and other chemicals from the original printed materials.

Bamboo

Bamboo toilet paper is made from bamboo grass, a rapidly renewable resource that grows to maturity in three to five years. Bamboo produces soft, strong fibres that make excellent toilet paper without requiring any trees to be cut down. It is the fastest-growing category in the toilet paper market and for good reason. You can learn more about this in our article on what makes bamboo sustainable.

How Is Toilet Paper Made? Step by Step

The basic manufacturing process is similar regardless of the raw material, though there are important differences at each stage. Here is how it works.

Step 1: Preparing the Raw Material

For virgin wood toilet paper, logs are stripped of bark and fed into a chipper, which cuts them into small, uniform wood chips. These chips are then cooked in a chemical solution (typically sodium hydroxide and sodium sulphide) at high temperatures and pressures. This process, called the Kraft process, dissolves the lignin that holds the wood fibres together, leaving behind a slurry of cellulose fibres known as pulp.

For bamboo toilet paper, the process is similar but starts with bamboo stalks instead of tree logs. The bamboo is chipped and then cooked to separate the fibres. Because bamboo fibres are naturally finer than wood fibres, the resulting pulp often produces a softer end product. Read more about this in our dedicated article on the production process of bamboo toilet paper.

For recycled toilet paper, waste paper is mixed with water in large vats and broken down into a sludgy pulp. Inks, staples, and other contaminants are removed through a series of screening and flotation processes.

Step 2: Bleaching

Raw pulp has a brown or greyish colour. To achieve the bright white that consumers expect, the pulp is bleached. Traditionally, this was done using elemental chlorine, which produces harmful dioxins as a by-product. Most modern manufacturers have moved to either Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) processes, which use chlorine dioxide, or Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) processes, which use oxygen, ozone, or hydrogen peroxide.

Some bamboo toilet paper brands skip the heavy bleaching step entirely or use only hydrogen peroxide, resulting in a slightly off-white colour that many eco-conscious consumers actually prefer.

Step 3: Pulp Processing

The bleached pulp is mixed with large quantities of water to form a thin slurry (about 99.5% water and 0.5% fibre at this stage). This slurry is spread onto a moving wire mesh screen, which allows the water to drain away while the fibres settle into a thin, even mat.

The wet fibre mat then passes through a series of pressing rollers that squeeze out additional water. At this point, the mat is still quite damp and fragile.

Step 4: Drying

The pressed fibre sheet moves onto a large heated cylinder called a Yankee dryer. This massive steel drum, which can be over 5 metres in diameter, is heated internally by steam. As the wet sheet wraps around the drum, the heat evaporates the remaining moisture, leaving a dry paper sheet.

A blade called a creping doctor scrapes the dry sheet off the drum surface. This creping action creates tiny wrinkles in the paper that give toilet paper its characteristic softness and ability to stretch without tearing.

Step 5: Embossing and Ply Bonding

After creping, the paper sheets may be embossed with patterns to increase their bulk and absorbency. For multi-ply products, two or more layers of paper are bonded together. Most standard toilet paper is either 2-ply or 3-ply. The layers are attached using a combination of light adhesive and mechanical bonding through the embossing process.

Step 6: Rolling and Cutting

The finished paper is wound onto enormous parent rolls, sometimes over 2 metres in diameter. These parent rolls are then transferred to converting machines that rewind the paper onto cardboard cores at the correct tension to create individual consumer-sized rolls. Perforating blades cut the paper into tear-off sheets at regular intervals, and circular saws cut the long logs into individual rolls.

Step 7: Packaging

The finished rolls are wrapped in packaging and prepared for distribution. Conventional toilet paper is almost always wrapped in plastic film. Many eco-friendly brands, including bamboo toilet paper makers, use paper or cardboard packaging instead.

Where Is Toilet Paper Made?

Toilet paper is manufactured all over the world, but the largest producers are the United States, China, Germany, Japan, and Brazil. The US alone produces over 7 billion kilograms of toilet paper per year.

Interestingly, where toilet paper is made often depends on the raw material. Virgin wood toilet paper is typically produced close to the timber supply, particularly in North America, Scandinavia, and Brazil. Bamboo toilet paper production is concentrated in China, where the vast majority of commercial bamboo is grown. Some brands then ship the finished rolls to markets in Europe and North America, while others ship the raw bamboo pulp to be converted into rolls at local facilities.

Recycled toilet paper can be made virtually anywhere, as the raw material (waste paper) is available in every country.

What Makes Bamboo Toilet Paper Different?

The production process for bamboo toilet paper follows the same general steps as conventional toilet paper, but with several important differences that reduce its environmental impact:

• No trees are cut down. Bamboo is a grass that regenerates from its root system after harvest.
• Faster raw material replacement. Bamboo reaches maturity in 3 to 5 years versus 20 to 80 years for trees.
• Lower chemical use. Bamboo fibres are easier to process and often require less aggressive chemical treatments.
• Naturally softer. Bamboo fibres are finer than wood fibres, producing a softer paper without the need for chemical softening agents.
• Biodegradable. Bamboo toilet paper breaks down faster in water and soil than conventional paper. Learn more about this in our article on biodegradable toilet paper.

To understand the full range of advantages, have a look at our detailed guide to the benefits of bamboo toilet paper.

The Environmental Impact of Toilet Paper Production

Manufacturing toilet paper, regardless of the raw material, requires significant amounts of water, energy, and chemicals. However, the scale of impact varies dramatically depending on the source material.

Virgin wood toilet paper has the highest environmental cost. It requires logging operations, transportation of timber, chemical pulping, bleaching, and long-distance shipping of finished goods. It is estimated that producing a single roll of conventional toilet paper requires approximately 37 gallons of water, 1.5 pounds of wood, and enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for over 3 hours.

Bamboo toilet paper production, while not impact-free, uses a raw material that grows far faster, sequesters more carbon, and requires fewer chemicals to process. This makes it a measurably better option for the environment.

Concerned about chemicals in your toilet paper? Read our investigation into PFAS and chemicals in toilet paper to find out what to look out for.

Making a Better Choice

Now that you know how toilet paper is made, you are in a better position to choose a product that aligns with your values. Whether you opt for recycled or bamboo, moving away from virgin wood toilet paper is one of the simplest environmental swaps you can make in your daily life.

If you are ready to try bamboo toilet paper for yourself, take a look at Bamboi's bamboo toilet paper and see the difference for yourself.