The Rise of Toilet Paper in India

The continuous developments in the tissue paper industry have enabled individuals to lead a more clean and hygienic life. Its easier to carry the Toilet Paper Roll in the bag allowing people to maintain Hygiene even on the move. 

According to IPMA, the growth of 16.75% in the Tissue paper category( highest among all other paper categories ) indicates we're rapidly shifting towards the paper disposables from the reusable alternatives.

Why Toilet Paper instead of the Tissue Paper?
Toilet paper is made with short wood fibers with weak bonds that break apart easily when saturated with water.

After the Toilet Paper is thrown in the toilet, the water molecules get between the cellulose chains and cause the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules to break, weakening the paper.
The paper then breaks down into smaller pieces within minutes and doesn't clog the pipes.

Virgin Vs. Recycled Toilet Paper.
Toilet paper is commonly made from the paper called virgin Paper. The Virgin paper does not contain any recycled material and impurities.
It is paper manufactured from the new pulp. Wood pulp is the main component of toilet paper.

The Virgin Soft Toilet paper generally performs better as compared to the Recycled Toiler Paper. 

The Recycled Tissue Paper, as the name suggests, is made from the disposed of paper. The recycled paper has to go through an extra step of bleaching, which the virgin paper doesn't have to.
The Recycled Toilet Paper is slightly cheaper if compared to the Virgin Paper Toilet roll.

The Virgin Paper requires 3kg of wood and 20-liter water to produce 1kg of paper. 
On the other hand, the Recycled paper requires 1KG of the waste paper and 5-liters of water to make 0.80KG of paper.
It's more environmentally friendly to use the Recycled Paper instead of the Virgin Paper roll.

Is the Toiler Paper Biodegradable & Environmentally Friendly?
The Toilet Paper is the roll of perforated wrapping or toilet paper supported in the center with a cardboard tube. The Paper Roll & the cardboard is entirely biodegradable. It's the single-use plastic packaging & in which these paper rolls are commonly packed is the problem.

As a responsible citizen, try to go for the Toilet Paper packed in biodegradable packaging. The online packaging stores offer the option to buy Toilet Paper in bulk packed inside the corrugated boxes without or with minimal plastic packaging. 

Buying Toilet Paper in bulk will be cheaper since you're purchasing the Tissue rolls at the wholesale price. Buying something at the supermarket will cost more since there're the marketing, packaging, rental costs involved, which aren't there if bought in bulk online.

At places like Offices, Airports, Hotels & Restaurants, Tissue Products are the only means of maintaining proper Hygiene. With the rise in urbanization and growth in the economy, more such institutions are opening across India, which relies entirely on Tissue Products.
Having such an easy means of maintaining personal Hygiene everywhere outside compels people to bring them at home too.
Now the question arises do we have any other option and is it the problem in the first place.

It's not possible to use the reusable towels at offices, restaurants, airports, and cafes. As it'll be unhygienic to use the same cloth towel, and the businesses cannot expect their customers to carry handkerchief everywhere. Though I believe we should carry one.
The best businesses can do to use recycled Tissue Products.
It's more environmentally friendly to use the Recycled Tissue Paper instead of the Virgin Tissue Products.

Best Toilet Paper Buying Guide
The best Toilet paper is expected to be soft and strong, tear easily at the perforation and disintegrate quickly once we've flushed it down the toilet. 
Perforation
We measure the ease of separating the toilet tissue at the perforation. The easier it is for the toilet paper to tear, the better.
Puncture
We measure the strength of the toilet paper by testing its resistance to puncturing. 
Disintegration time
Its essential for the Tissue Paper to disintegrate quickly if thrown in the toilet, making it less likely to block pipes. 
Softness
The Softness of the Toilet Paper is subjective because there is no standard unit of measurement for the softness.

Toilet Paper Manufacturing in Short
The recycled paper is dropped into the Pulper. A giant tank with the agitator. Similar to the washing machine.
It mixes the paper into lukewarm water, transforming into the Pulp screening out impurities.

The ink removal system injects the pulp with the air. Ink particles attached to air bubbles rise to the top, which is skimmed out.
The pulp passes through the series of rollers, which squeezes out the water.

The dry pulp is chopped into smaller pieces preparing it for the bleaching process. The bleaching turns the grey pulp colour into bright white.

The bleached pulp is then spread onto the flat screen that runs through the hot drier. Within minutes the pulp is dried into the delicate paper.
The white Tissue Paper is rolled onto the paper tubes to make Tissue Roll.

Why is the Toilet Paper White?
The wood is composed of cellulose, sugars, and lignin. The lignin is like the glue which holds everything together in the Tree.

The bleaching process separates the wood fiber from the lignin, resulting in softening the tissue for comfortable skin contact. During the process, the paper turns white. 

The recycled tissue paper has to be bleached, too, as the waste paper collected might consist of the lignin.
In short, the Toilet paper is white to please your butt and your eyes.