By Julie Chen, Co-Founder & CEO of Cheeky Panda

In light of revelations highlighted by a Which? Article, revealing that 60% of bamboo toilet paper brands contain more tree fibre than bamboo, with two brands admitting the mishap in their supply chain and one brand disputing the test result, consumers might find themselves "bamboozled" about which brands they can actually trust.

Drawing from eight years of industry experience and dedicated research into bamboo sustainability, I want to shed light on these misconceptions to help you make informed choices.

Myth 1: "We're the most sustainable toilet paper in the UK"

The honest answer: Claims such as “the most sustainable” sound compelling, but the CMA’s Green Claims Code expects environmental claims to be backed by robust evidence, making broad sustainability claims extremely difficult to substantiate. Every toilet paper has a carbon footprint, and "most/best" claims are difficult, if not impossible to prove.

And that’s for a simple reason: who truly has the credentials to hold it? The reality is that any production process, toilet paper included, carries a carbon footprint. It's an inevitable aspect of human consumption. The most sustainable way to wipe is to use reusable cloth or none at all. But for most of us, that's impractical.

To help consumers decide, brands need to understand and be transparent about their entire supply chain, use the most sustainable materials possible, and improve their carbon footprint over time through technological and logistical efficiency. Sustainability is a journey for everyone, not a destination. Brands need to respect the Green Claims Code and avoid misleading consumers.

 That's exactly why, rather than crown ourselves, we prefer to let independent bodies do the judging. Cheeky Panda is a Which? Best Buy and a Which? Eco Buy (scoring 85% in Which?'s testing), was named Good Housekeeping's "Best Bamboo Toilet Roll", and holds EcoVadis Platinum, placing us in the top 1% of companies worldwide for sustainability. I believe that independent recognition like those say far more than any "the best" claim a brand makes about itself.

Myth 2: "Made in the EU or UK is greener than made in China"

The honest answer: The honest answer: Not necessarily. Making toilet paper "in the EU" usually just means the final converting and packaging happens near the market. The bulk of a roll's carbon footprint comes earlier, from growing and pulping the raw material, which happens wherever the fibre is sourced, regardless of where the rolls are finished. So "made in the EU/UK" changes a small part of the picture, not all of it.

Bamboo grows in China, Vietnam, India, Brazil and other tropical climates, where it grows prolifically and remains under-utilised. It's a fast-growing grass that regenerates from its own roots, so it can be harvested without replanting, and growing bamboo can act as a carbon sink. We believe that using a resource with those qualities, rather than felling trees, just makes sense.

Tree-based pulp, by contrast, can travel from North America, South America, Canada, or sustainable forests in Finland, Sweden or Germany to the UK for production. And recycled toilet paper at scale is usually a global commodity, because high-quality recycled fibre is scarce. In fact, recycled content in major tissue brands has fallen over the years, as good-quality recovered paper gets harder to source. Some waste paper or cardboard is collected and processed locally in the UK, but unfortunately this isn't scalable. Recycled toilet paper production also relies on an intensive de-inking process, and recycled fibre can carry persistent chemicals from its previous life: studies have found markedly higher BPA levels in recycled toilet paper than in virgin paper, traced to thermal receipts entering the recycling stream, and recycled content is a suspected source of PFAS in tissue.

Myth 3: "Unbleached toilet paper is better"

The honest answer: Not automatically, and the difference is smaller than the internet might suggest. Unbleached toilet paper simply skips the whitening stage and keeps the fibre's original colour, while white toilet paper goes through an additional brightening step. However, thoughtful brands don’t reach for harsh chlorine bleach to do that. Cheeky Panda uses the gentle ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) method to whiten our white rolls, not harsh chlorine bleaching. Doing so minimises the formation of harmful chlorinated compounds.

So "unbleached" isn't automatically better or cleaner, it simply means one specific step has been skipped. Nor does skipping it make a roll "chemical-free". What actually matters is the fibre source, the whitening method (gentle ECF versus harsh chlorine bleaching), and whether the product has been properly tested against harmful chemicals like PFAS.

Myth 4: "The FSC logo guarantees 100% bamboo"

The honest answer: No. FSC audits the chain of custody and can fibre-test on a sampled, risk-based basis, but it doesn't test every pack or inspect goods at the point of sale, so mislabelling or inadvertent mixing with tree-based fibre can still happen, which is exactly what two bamboo brands admitted after the Which? testing.

While the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) ensures bamboo products are sourced responsibly, there's a misconception that the FSC logo guarantees 100% bamboo content. FSC does provide for fibre testing through its accredited certification bodies and Assurance Services International, but this is risk-based and sampled rather than applied to every batch, and it doesn't happen at the point of retail sale. The label demonstrates a controlled, audited chain of custody. It's not a pack-by-pack guarantee of species content. So instances of mislabelling, or inadvertent mixing with tree-based fibres, can still occur, as with the bamboo brands highlighted in the recent testing.

In 2017, I personally ordered fibre tests on several bamboo toilet paper samples and found tree-based content in the tissue. As competition has intensified in the Chinese domestic market for bamboo toilet paper, some manufacturers may have compromised on bamboo content to stay competitive. The recent Which? report, initiated by a whistleblower familiar with industry practices, sheds light on this. These nuances can be particularly hard to navigate for entrepreneurs without local knowledge.

Cheeky Panda has a team based in China, near the bamboo forests, dedicated to quality control and oversee that the bamboo pulp we use is genuinely bamboo. By contrast, brands that rely on EU third-party converters to source pulp can more easily lose track of the raw material, resulting in tree-based fibres being mixed into the final product.

Myth 5: "Unbleached is just a marketing word, you can't really prove it"

The honest answer: You can, and we've had ours tested. Independent SGS analysis found no detectable AOX (the chemical marker left behind by chlorine bleaching) in Cheeky Panda's unbleached toilet paper.

"Unbleached" can sound like a label anyone can slap on a pack, but it's actually testable. Chlorine bleaching leaves behind adsorbable organic halogens (AOX), so measuring AOX shows whether a tissue has been through chlorine bleaching. In July 2026, SGS tested our Natural Colour Toilet Paper and the AOX result came back "Not Detected", meaning there was no detectable chlorine-bleaching residues, consistent with a genuinely unbleached product that skips the whitening stage rather than going through it, proving that our Natural Colour rolls aren't bleached at all.

Myth 6: "Bamboo toilet paper isn't sustainable because it's shipped long distances"

The honest answer: Shipping doesn't cancel everything out. Production carbon is similar across bamboo, virgin tree and recycled; the real differences are in the pre-production phase, and bamboo acts as a carbon sink, unlike felled trees or recycled fibre.

The carbon footprint during production of bamboo, virgin tree and recycled options is very similar. The crucial differences lie in the pre-production phase.

When virgin trees are cut down, the root system is uprooted, releasing carbon back into the atmosphere. In addition, new land is often needed for replantation, and substantial water may be required in the early growth years. Bamboo, by contrast, regenerates from its own roots with no replanting needed, and relies on natural rainwater, making it far more efficient in land and water use. Regularly harvested bamboo acts as a carbon sink, sequestering carbon below ground through its root system while the stems above are harvested for products like toilet paper.

Imagine bamboo as a perpetual decarbonisation machine that never stops working, whose by-products become everyday items like toilet paper. Recycled toilet paper, meanwhile, lacks this carbon-sink benefit. We aim to prove that bamboo's carbon-sink benefits outweigh transportation from the bamboo fields and deliver a net benefit versus recycled.

Thank you for reading, and for your continued support.