94,000+ trees are cut down every day to make household paper products. These include toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, cleaning wipes, tissues, and the list goes on and on. Every time you use one of these products that are made from trees, you become part of the problem of deforestation of our beautiful forests and reserves. Deforestation also plays a big part in climate change. Since trees produce oxygen and we’re cutting down trees to make toilet paper, it makes O2 levels go down and CO2 levels go up, making the atmosphere warmer.

Bamboo is a great resource for paper products for many reasons. One of them being that just one grove of bamboo produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent amount of trees. Buying bamboo products makes a difference in our environment because it will make the demand for bamboo go up, and with it, the oxygen levels will rise. Bamboo is a crucial element in balancing the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere.

Trees grow very slow compared to bamboo. On average, trees take about 20 years to grow back after being harvested versus bamboo which only takes 3 months to grow back. In just 24 hours some bamboo breeds can grow 47 inches and can reach over 100 feet in just 60 days. Because of this bamboo is a great resource and replacement for the slow-growing forests we currently rely on for our paper products and many other things.

What are the specifications bamboo needs to grow? Bamboo is technically easy to grow; all you need is proper light, water, potting media, fertilizer, and temperature. When it comes to light, bamboo prefers bright, filtered sunlight, such as what is found under a rainforest canopy. Bamboo plants do not have to be planted in soil, but they can be if you prefer. Just make sure the soil drains well. Keep soil moderately moist—not soggy, and not desert dry. It’s not too hard when you’re planning to keep some bamboo as a plant and for bamboo producers who will go on to make household products with it.

Another reason you should choose bamboo products over tree-made products is that bamboo is more biodegradable than wood. It takes wood 50-100 years to decompose! While it only takes around 3 years for bamboo to decompose. This is a huge difference and can help keep single-use wood products out of landfills waiting lifetimes to become one with earth again.

I’m sure you’re wondering the price difference between bamboo paper products and those made from trees. Bamboo is a little more pricey than regular paper products but not by much. Some places you can find bamboo products are these online websites: Caboo, True Grees, Cloud Paper, Green Cane, Grove Collaborative, and other big online retailers such as Walmart and Amazon.

I looked to Grove Collaborative and some brands on Walmart.com to find the price variations and I found that when comparing 8 rolls of toilet paper, it was $8.95 for the bamboo product from Grove and $7.97 for Scott. For two rolls of paper towels, it’s $3.95 from Grove and $2.98 from Sparkle. For one box of tissues, it was $1.95 for Grove and $1.98 for Puffs. So one can see that there is a bit of a difference between the two but not much, around 14% of a price change.

So there definitely has to be a difference in how the bamboo paper products feel and act than the paper products from wood right? I wondered about this too so I looked on Groove for the reviews of their paper products and they were almost all above 3 out of 5 stars.

For their 8-pack of toilet paper, it had a 4.5 out of 5 stars with 1222 reviews and one said: “Love this. Seedling” (Seedling being the line of paper products from Grove) “has really come a long way and I love it more and more with each improvement. I was a big fan of the bamboo from the get-go…so much more renewable than traditional tree-made TP. They’ve gotten ply and thickness just right for our household…not too thick, not too thin. Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they’ve stopped wrapping it in plastic for shipping. The whole thing is more renewable, recyclable, and environmentally friendly…while also getting the job done that it was made for!” ~Jen M.

I also looked at the two-pack of paper towels, and it had 3 out of 5 stars with 1105 reviews, one being: “Paper towels (tree Free.) These are amazing and last at least three times longer than any other paper towel and I have purchased! I also use the toilet paper which is amazing, they both last much longer than any other paper products that I have used and are very reasonably priced!!” ~Danielle B.

Bamboo is the better option. By making a small change in your household you can help change the world, one ply at a time. These small acts of kindness towards our earth are what is going to help fix climate change and make the world a better place for many generations to come. Bamboo grows faster, degrades faster, can produce more “timber” than wood could in the same amount of space and time, and there are so many more reasons as to why it’s better than tree-made paper products. Do your part in changing the world!