The Arbor Day Foundation and Quilted Northern®, Planting Two Million Trees Together

Written by Todd Wingfield, Sustainability Strategy Director at Georgia-Pacific

As a sustainability professional, I’ve noticed in recent years that many consumers have become increasingly interested in more sustainable alternatives within the consumer packaged goods industry, and the toilet paper category is no exception. From the responsible sourcing of our trees to our water- and energy-efficient manufacturing process, we at Georgia-Pacific have a long history of sustainable business practices. Our Quilted Northern® brand also has a history of being a comfortable bath tissue. We decided that it was up to us to combine sustainability with comfort.

But what does that look like, exactly? For us, it means doing even more than what we’ve been doing. In addition to our responsible forestry practices and energy-efficient manufacturing process, we are also going to deliver on an additional commitment: To ensure that three trees are planted for every one used to make our Quilted Northern Ultra Soft & Strong® sub-brand. This promise gives our consumers the comfort of knowing they are still getting the product they know and love, with the added, tangible impact of helping to restore U.S. forests. Want to see this commitment in action? This video shows how our promise is helping to plant trees in the Cibola National Forest, which was ravaged by wildfires in 2016:

Reforestation work in Cibola National Forest

Finding the right partners to help us deliver on this commitment is crucial, and who knows more about trees than the Arbor Day Foundation? Together, we’re planting more than two million trees by the end of 2021, with more plantings to come in future years. The plantings vary in location, but will be reserved specifically for forest restoration efforts in the U.S., such as those affected by wildfires.

In the first two years of the project, the Quilted Northern® team is planting over two million trees by the end of 2021. Over their lifetimes*, these trees are estimated to:

• Sequester more than 1,450,000 tons of C02
• Filter almost 120,000 tons of pollutants from the air
• Intercept more than 10 billion gallons of rainfall

*Estimated benefits over next 40 years of two million trees calculated using https://planting.itreetools.org, accounting for species planted, location, and seedling size

As the Quilted Northern® brand continues to support planting projects in 2021, this impact will only grow.

Visit https://www.quiltednorthern.com/sustainability to learn more about Quilted Northern® and Georgia-Pacific’s sustainable practices.