Standard Revision:
Sanitary Paper Products

Standard Revision in Progress:

A 30-day public comment period closed on April 28, 2025. Green Seal is now reviewing stakeholder input. Details on the proposed revisions to this standard can be found in the Library of Standards.

Meeting a High Standard

We’re proposing a leadership standard for sanitary paper products made from 100% recycled or tree-free alternative fibers.

Buyers trust Green Seal-certified sanitary paper products because they significantly reduce carbon emissions, protect ancient and endangered forests, and preserve water resources. By meeting our stringent fiber sourcing and manufacturing criteria, Green Seal-certified sanitary paper products save an average of 30.5 billion gallons of water and 11.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions a year – the equivalent of taking 2.8 million cars off the road.

Sanitary paper products certified to our standard meet the environmentally preferable purchasing requirements of a host of states, local governments, K-12 schools, colleges, and the federal government. They also qualify for points in the LEED v4.1 green building standard and for the Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly program.

Our Standard for Sanitary Paper Products establishes environmental, health, and social requirements for product types including:

• Bathroom tissue 
• Facial tissue 
• Paper towels 
• Napkins 
• Placemats 

A High-Impact Initiative

As single-use items, sanitary paper products can have large impacts on natural resources. In fact:

• The United States consumes approximately 19.2 billion pounds – or 56 pounds per person — of toilet paper annually.
• Sanitary paper production heavily contributes to deforestation, denuding 28 million acres of the ecologically valuable Boreal forest in a 20-year period – an area roughly the size of Ohio.
• Papermaking is the third-largest energy consuming manufacturing sector, after chemicals and petroleum and coal products. Manufacturing tissue products from virgin fiber can generate three times as many CO2 emissions as products made from other types of pulp.
• Manufacturing tissue products from virgin fiber is extremely water intensive, demanding more than 24 billion gallons of water a day.

Intended Outcomes

Reducing Lifecycle Carbon Emissions  

The fiber composition of sanitary paper products significantly impacts their overall environmental footprint. For example, products made from virgin fiber have a substantially higher carbon footprint than those made from other materials due to the carbon emissions released from the soil as trees are harvested and the loss of continued carbon storage from the forest. With a certification standard that requires products to be made from environmentally preferable fibers, Green Seal will play a role in reducing the lifecycle carbon emissions of sanitary paper products.

Feasibility in the Marketplace 

After evaluating the landscape of recycled and alternative fiber markets to ensure the standard requirements are feasible, we adjusted the PCR criteria in the proposed standard to align with the EPA CPGs and expanded the certification pathways to include sustainably sourced bamboo.

Collaborative Program Development

Green Seal’s reputation for credibility and market impact rests on an open and transparent process for developing our science-based criteria by following international best practices. We are seeking public comment on our draft criteria and input from industry, environmental researchers and advocates, product purchasers, and the public.

Green Seal relies on a wide community of stakeholders to inform our decisions on final standard criteria. This includes using Working Groups composed of market and technical experts from three interest categories: producers, users, and general interest. This stakeholder feedback is critical to making sure our programs and standards are relevant, scientifically accurate, and a true reflection of environmental leadership in today’s market. During the standard development process, Green Seal strives for balanced participation from all interest categories. To learn more, see our Standards Development Manual.

Seeking Your Feedback

The public comment period closed on April 28, 2025.