Toilet Paper’s GEO-Political and Economic Influence

Leo Preston

12 years ago

<&excl;--[if gte mso 9]&gt&semi;-->&NewLine; 2010 saw the Government open the floodgates of Indonesian and Chinese toilet paper, 20,000 tons to be exact&period; With less red tape and more labor violations, Asiatic toilet paper costs an average 45&percnt; less than national brands&period; Obviously, such mass importation threatens Australian toilet paper manufacturer’s place within the economy&period; That’s actually hard to do, as the paper industry boasts &dollar;3&period;5 billion+in equipment and &dollar;900 million+ in annual contribution to the national economy&period;&NewLine;Most people are initially perplexed by such a policy&period; After all, the government is endangering a large national industry through a foreign option known for clear-cutting, child labor, and general indifference to endangered wild life&period;&NewLine;<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7111" alt="Toilet Paper's GEO-Political and Economic Influence" src="https&colon;//medusamagazine&period;com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/toilet-roll&lowbar;1402354i&period;jpg" width="470" height="286" />&NewLine;Agricultural policies and political concern of environmental blowback are likely the two major culprits&period;&NewLine;Australia’s agriculture itself is valued seven times higher than forestry and fishing combined&period; Only 17&percnt; of forestry and fishing’s national worth derives from exportation, far less than agriculture’s 46&percnt;&period;&NewLine;The natural extension is examining manufacturing industries dependent on timber or agriculture&period; The food and tobacco manufacturing industry is worth roughly three times that of wood, pulp and paper&period; Of all manufactured food, beverages, and tobacco, 77&percnt; percent is exported&period; Quite the amount compared to the paltry 29&percnt; total for wood, pulp, and paper&period;&NewLine;Knowing each industry’s comparative worth is absolutely for vital for weighing the next bit of information about one age-old issue&colon; our environment&NewLine;For all its natural splendor, Australia’s native habitats are going down under&period; A 2009 study found that agricultural expansion has changed or destroyed half of Australia’s woodlands while the remaining two thirds are hurt by logging&period; With 80 percent of Australia’s threatened species linked to loss of habitat, it’s little wonder deforestation and negligence are the prime causes for such issues&period; &NewLine;Yep, agriculture alone has destroyed half of Australia’s woodlands and forests&period; Universal fascination with kangaroos and kolas has lead to international attention on environmental policies, not to mention national concern&period;&NewLine;While a hot-button issue since the 80s, the internet has enabled far quicker and greater dispersal of information&period; Now more than ever, people are likely to know more about environmental issues and have an opinion&period; However, attention is likely focused on who’s downing the trees, not necessarily what the land will be used for&period;&NewLine;It’s no secret that Australian sentiment has largely turned against logging, particularly those companies that target irreplaceable native forests&period; The recent meltdo<a name="&lowbar;GoBack"></a>wn at Gunns and subsequent scandals perhaps best manifest this popular perspective&period; Logging often connotes bullheaded pressure to expand into native woodlands, poisoning wildlife, illegal logging, and other unsavory stuff&period;&NewLine;Our politicians, policy makers, and lobbyists are well aware of logging’s reputation&period; They’re also well aware of environmentalist concerns and the net worth of national agriculture&period; While not necessarily a conspiracy to undermine the toilet paper industry, the larger message of importing paper goods seems a bid to emolliate conservationist fervor&period; Essentially, the paper and logging are a whipping boy to mask the environmental degradation caused by land clearance&period;&NewLine;Meanwhile, such policies are beginning to show their effects on the toilet paper industry, both for good and ill&period; Loggers feel more pressured to pursue cheap means of processing wood even as paper manufacturers deal with popular demand to create recycled toilet paper&period; Labeling itself is tricky, with the logging-industry backed Australian Forestry Standard approving 80-90&percnt; of all &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;recycled” toilet paper while the Forest Stewardship council only approves 10&percnt;&period; More and more consumers are looking beyond price and quality when purchasing toilet paper, often cutting costs by visiting popular online retailers&period; &NewLine;Select MPs and local governments obviously aren’t happy with current paper manufacturing and consumption, both at home and abroad&period; However, the overwhelming majority are much closer to agricultural interests than logging&period; As it stands, the government has essentially declared that it’s fine with mass deforestation and extinction so long as they can’t be held accountable&period; Allowing the 20,000 ton dump of Indonesian and Chinese loo paper both bring a cheap product to consumers and negates national deforestation&period; Win-win,so long as you’ve a career in politics&period; &NewLine;&NewLine;About Author&NewLine;Sam Thompson lives in Sydney Australia&period; He is an editor for <a href="http&colon;//www&period;toiletpaperplus&period;com&period;au/">Toilet Paper Plus</a> and spends his spare time surfing the beaches of the east coast of Australia&period; He hopes one day all companies will look after the environment&period;&NewLine;