Serious Tissues was revealed on Radio 4’s More or Less programme to be misleading consumers in an ad campaign that claimed 15% of global deforestation was caused by toilet rolls alone.

The programme was unable to find statistics to back up the company’s claim. 

Mary Gagen, chief adviser on forests to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said on the programme: “There is a number that is quite widely cited associated with the wood pulp industry, which is that between 10% and around 14% of global deforestation can be attributed to the pulp and paper industry. 

“So I wonder if that 15% attribution to toilet paper usage is possibly a misinterpretation of that global wood pulp figure.”

Two Sides’ own research, using statistics from the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), estimated that toilet paper made up around 0.6-1.3% of total global wood harvests, far below the 15% figure quoted in the advert.

The claim’s exposition by More or Less, said Two Sides, highlighted the problem of greenwashing in the paper industry, and the importance of certification for wood pulp products.

Two Sides urged people to report any instances of greenwashing they should see to greenwash@twosides.info.