When it comes to toilet paper, one of the most important factors for many people is how quickly it breaks down and disintegrates in water. The faster toilet paper falls apart and dissolves when flushed, the less likely it is to clog pipes or cause plumbing issues. Some key questions when evaluating the fastest disintegrating toilet paper include:
- What properties make some toilet paper disintegrate faster than others?
- Which major brands offer the quickest disintegrating toilet paper?
- Is the fastest disintegrating toilet paper also soft and absorbent enough for comfort and cleaning ability?
- How much faster than standard toilet paper do the quickest disintegrating brands break down?
- Do eco-friendly bamboo or recycled toilet papers disintegrate as quickly as other types?
Finding the right balance between disintegration speed and other desirable attributes like softness and absorbency is important in choosing the optimal fast-dissolving toilet paper. This article will examine those factors in detail across popular toilet paper options to determine the definitively fastest disintegrating products available.
Page Contents
What Makes Toilet Paper Disintegrate Faster?
There are a few key factors that allow some toilet papers to disintegrate much more rapidly than others when flushed:
Weak Hydrogen Bonding
The cellulose fibers that make up toilet paper are held together by hydrogen bonds. Weakening these bonds allows water to more quickly penetrate and break apart the paper. Cellulose processed to have shorter fibers forms fewer and feebler hydrogen bonds.
Low Density
Toilet paper with fewer cellulose fibers packed tightly together has fewer hydrogen bonds overall holding it together. Lower density papers like those marketed as “fluffy” disintegrate faster.
No Wet Strength Additives
Some toilet papers contain extra resins or starches to make them stronger when wet. Avoiding these additives, like polyacrylamide, leads to faster disintegration.
High Post-Consumer Recycled Content
Recycled paper fibers tend to be shorter and weaker than virgin pulp fiber. High recycled content toilet paper often disintegrates faster as a result.
So in summary, low density, fluffy paper with short virgin and recycled fibers and no strengthening additives breaks down quickest when flushed. But which popular U.S. toilet paper brands specifically deliver on these fast-disintegrating attributes?
Fastest Disintegrating Major Toilet Paper Brands
Testing has shown certain major toilet paper manufacturers produce standard rolls that separate and dissolve in water markedly faster than their competition. Here are the top 3 national brands when it comes to fast disintegration:
Scott 1000 Standard – Disintegration Time: 12 seconds
The Scott 1000 standard toilet paper disintegrates in approximately 12 seconds when flushed. This rapid breakdown is around 65% faster than average standard toilet paper. The Scott 1000 standard paper uses a fluffy, low density construction and 100% recycled short paper fibers to achieve this quick disintegration.
Green Forest – Disintegration Time: 15 seconds
Green Forest toilet paper breaks down in around 15 seconds. It uses a proprietary process to lightly hydrogen bond recycled paper crumbles into a fluffy, low density paper. While not as fast as the Scott 1000, Green Forest disintegrates 50% faster than typical toilet paper.
Seventh Generation – Disintegration Time: 17 seconds
Seventh Generation toilet paper disintegrates in approximately 17 seconds, making it one of the fastest dissolving major brand name conventional toilet papers. It uses 100% recycled unbleached paper fibers and no strengthening additives.
While specialty toilet papers designed for septic systems or RV use may disintegrate even faster than these top conventional brands, Scott 1000, Green Forest and Seventh Generation are excellent options widely available at reasonable prices for those prioritizing quick disintegration.
How Much Faster is Fast Disintegrating Toilet Paper?
To provide some context around exactly how much faster the quickest dissolving toilet papers are compared to standard varieties, here is a comparison:
Average Toilet Paper Disintegration Time: 30 seconds
Fastest Disintegrating Major Brands:
– Scott 1000 Standard: 12 seconds
– Green Forest: 15 seconds
– Seventh Generation: 17 seconds
So while typical toilet paper takes about 30 seconds to break down when flushed, the fastest major brands can disintegrate in as little as 12-17 seconds. This means the quickest dissolving toilet papers can disintegrate around 2-3x faster than conventional toilet paper.
The quick disintegration minimizes the risk of clogs and plumbing issues, showing the real world benefit of choosing a faster dissolving toilet paper option. Just a 10-20 second time savings may not seem significant, but for those prone to clogs and plumbing problems, it can make a noticeable difference.
Disintegration Speed vs. Softness and Absorbency
One potential downside of faster disintegrating toilet paper is it sometimes requires a flimsier paper construction. So you might expect the quickest dissolving toilet papers to suffer on softness and absorbency. But modern innovations in recycled paper manufacturing have allowed some brands to maintain a nice feel and absorbency even at low densities and with high recycled content for quick dissolution.
Here is how the top 3 fast disintegrating toilet paper brands stack up on softness and absorbency:
Scott 1000 Standard
Despite its lightning fast disintegration, Scott 1000 still manages decent softness and absorbency. It won’t feel quite as plush and cushiony as premium toilet papers, but still offers an acceptable feel and cleaning ability.
Green Forest
Green Forest uses proprietary crumbling and binding methods to give their toilet paper good softness and absorbency while still disintegrating rapidly when flushed.
Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation utilizes high quality recycled paper processes to make their toilet paper about as soft and absorbent as standard virgin fiber toilet paper while maintaining quick break down.
So while the fastest dissolving toilet papers may not exceed in plushness and absorbency, they can certainly still deliver decent comfort and cleaning ability while providing the benefit of rapid disintegration. The innovation seen in products from brands like Seventh Generation and Green Forest that don’t compromise too heavily on softness and absorbency is promising.
How Do Eco-Friendly Bamboo and Recycled Toilet Papers Compare?
Two growing trends in the toilet paper industry are bamboo fiber paper and recycled paper products. Bamboo based toilet papers emphasize sustainability, while recycled toilet papers have environmental benefits by giving paper another life rather than landfilling. But how do these compare to conventional toilet paper when it comes to disintegration speed?
Bamboo Toilet Paper
The dense paper fibers derived from bamboo plants lead to papers that are typically tougher and more durable than traditional wood pulp based toilet papers. While great for softness and absorbency, this density causes most bamboo toilet papers to disintegrate a bit slower than standard toilet paper. There are exceptions like Cheer Bambooloo with faster disintegration, but most dissolve slightly slower.
Recycled Toilet Paper
As noted earlier, recycled paper content used in environmentally friendly toilet papers like Seventh Generation and Green Forest is a factor allowing them to disintegrate up to 2-3x faster than conventional virgin fiber toilet paper. So recycled toilet papers tend to offer much faster dissolution than both typical toilet paper as well as most bamboo paper based products.
So for green-minded consumers prioritizing faster disintegration over all else, high recycled content toilet paper products are the way to go. But those wanting environmentally friendly paper alongside plush softness may prefer bamboo papers despite their slower disintegration. Ultimately personal priorities guide whether recycled or bamboo eco-friendly papers best meet your needs.
Conclusion
When evaluating the fastest disintegrating toilet papers, Scott 1000, Green Forest and Seventh Generation rise to the top as major brands disintegrating up to 65% quicker than standard toilet paper. By using innovative manufacturing processes to construct fluffy, low density paper out of short recycled fibers and no strengthening additives, these products break down in as little as 12-17 seconds.
This rapid disintegration allows these leading toilet papers to minimize plumbing clogs and obstructions. And advances in recycled and proprietary paper processing even allow quick dissolving products from Green Forest and Seventh Generation to retain decent softness and absorbency. While specialty toilet paper designed for septic systems may dissolve even faster, Scott 1000, Green Forest and Seventh Generation offer the winning combination of widely available household names with a strong emphasis on fast disintegration.