Rob Greenfield does not keep store-bought toilet paper in his bathroom. Instead, the well-known environmentalist plucks a few lush, green leaves from a blue spur flower plant growing in his Florida yard and utilises them.
Yes, truly.
Since April 29, the eco-activist has been travelling major Florida communities as part of his Grow Your Own Toilet Paper Initiative, which encourages people to utilise toilet paper tree leaves instead of commercial toilet paper.
In each city, he chooses a well-traveled location, places his compost toilet next to several packages of store-bought toilet paper and one of his green, leafy toilet paper plants, and lets the questions fly.
So, what is he doing?
"I want to show people that another way is possible," he says to them. "We live in a consumer culture where most of us have no idea where things come from, how they get to us, or what impact they have on the environment." Toilet paper is no different. We simply buy it at the store and don't think twice about it."
For Greenfield, who enjoys going to lengths to inform others about how our actions are endangering the earth, this campaign is just another opportunity for him to draw attention to a serious topic.
Grow Your Own Toilet Paper!
— Robin Greenfield (@RobJGreenfield) April 20, 2023
For 2 weeks I will be #FloridaMan sitting on my compost toilet downtown in the major cities of Florida.
Join me on the toilet and take home a TP Plant to grow your own!
Order a TP plant here! https://t.co/sYKLxdVhdA#GrowYourOwnTP #FloridaMan pic.twitter.com/Ryk1gODRAz
In recent years, the 36-year-old Wisconsin native has worn a plastic suit filled with all of his garbage for a month, lived in a 100-square-foot, solar-powered "tiny house" he built out of repurposed materials, and eaten food he grew and foraged himself to demonstrate that living sustainably is possible. (This reporter ate a tiny, lemony-tasting green leaf — her first ever – foraged by Greenfield last autumn at Yale University in New Haven.)
Now he's travelling across Florida with his portable compost toilet and one of his lush plants to get people talking.
"When people see me sitting on the compost toilet with these beautiful, vibrant plants, I tell them, 'Hey, did you know you can grow your own toilet paper?'" he adds.
"It's really a way to capture people in the act." 'Whoa, you can do that?' they'll exclaim. 'Do you know you can grow your own toilet paper?' "And then I share with them that this is possible, and that we can grow so many things that will liberate us from consumerism," he continues.
Greenfield allows visitors to touch the plant's leaves after they begin asking questions about it.
"They're as soft as they can be," he says. "They're long-lasting. "They are the Charmin of the garden," I say.
They even have a minty scent to them.
Furthermore, each leaf is the size of a piece of toilet paper, and the plant produces an endless supply.
Greenfield gives out cuttings of the toilet paper plant (Plectranthus barbatus/blue spur flower/boldo) for those who live in warm areas or mullein seeds for people who live in cold climates to make it easier for them to cultivate their own trees at home.
"Everyone can have their own supply of TP growing freely and abundantly," he explains.
He should be aware.
"When I moved to Orlando, Florida in 2018, I planted two cuttings of the Toilet Paper Plant that a friend gave me, and within one year, I had a toilet paper plant abundant enough to support a family of five," he adds.
He hasn't looked back since.
"When people say things like, 'Oh, you're going back to the past by wiping your butt with a toilet paper plant,' I'm like, 'No, I'm taking us into the future, a future that is actually living in harmony with the earth in a way that we're connected to it." And in a way that doesn't rely on companies to wipe our buttocks for us,'" he says.
So, why make the change?
Using the leaves of these plants instead of tossing paper - and money - down the toilet has numerous advantages.
According to one study, the average 2.5-person home uses 409 rolls of toilet paper per year. According to statistics, the average person consumes 150 rolls per year.
"The average person spends two months of their working life just to pay for toilet paper to wipe their butts," he claims. "So we're talking about working a 40-hour work week for two whole months of your life just to pay for the paper to wipe your butt."
Although toilet paper plant leaves cannot be flushed, they can be put in the garbage or buried in the yard.
Furthermore, reducing the amount of toilet paper used reduces the amount of energy required to cut down trees, produce the paper, distribute it, and dispose of it, he claims. They also contribute to the preservation of old-growth forests, which are valuable.
"To cut down those forests, to wipe our buttocks with the softest paper, to me, is just the ultimate disrespect," he says.
Getting people to talk about how much toilet paper they waste is vital, but it is only the beginning.
"Ultimately, the truth of the matter is that growing your own toilet paper is a gateway to composting your own poop," he argues.
Toilet flushing wastes trillions of gallons of fresh water, and "all of the chemicals that go into cleaning that water" are "causing an incredible amount of pollution," he claims.
"We have overflowing sewers in Florida because the sewer systems can't handle it." And our raw sewage is routinely discharged and poured into our oceans across the state," he says. "So, basically, if you're pooping in a flush toilet in Florida, you're probably pooping straight into the ocean."
Poop composting can also help feed more people. "It would provide the nutrients we need to make organic compost and grow incredible amounts of food, enough to easily lift every human being out of food poverty or food insecurity while also building our soil," he argues.
Composted excrement is safe to use if done correctly.
Composting excrement causes it to heat up to 160 degrees, which destroys all the bacteria and pathogens that could make us sick. "However, you still compost for a year because that amount of time also ensures that anything would be dead if your pile did not get hot enough," he says.
Finally, Greenfield claims that "if we're talking about climate change, and we're talking about soil depletion, some of the absolute biggest issues of our time, composting our own poop is actually one of, in my opinion, the big true solutions to our environmental crisis."
From May 4 to May 9, Greenfield's Grow Your Own Toilet Paper Initiative will make stops throughout Florida. Can't attend in person? Interested toilet paper plant producers can request seedlings or seeds through the mail, depending on their climate.
