When the Swedish hygiene products manufacturer Essity decided to withdraw from Russia in April 2022 following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the Russian public was deprived of Libero diapers, Libress pads and Zewa toilet paper – the only brand with a flushable toilet roll core. At the same time the US company Johnson & Johnson also suspended supplies of its personal hygiene products in Russia.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday that, after two years of intensive development, the Arkhbum Tissue Group had produced Russia’s first flushable toilet paper tube.
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The impact the absence of flushable toilet paper rolls was having on the population was underlined in June 2023 when the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Mikhail Yurin announced during a St. Petersburg Economic Forum that the issue of producing flushable toilet paper tubes was in the process of being resolved.
The company’s press service gave more technical information on the new product. The raw material for the production is primarily made from bleached mixed coniferous and deciduous wood pulp produced by the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill.
In August 2022, former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev picked up on a report that was published by RIA Novosti and Vesti of a trial by the Canadian company Net Zero on reusable toilet paper.
In one of his infamous diatribes Medvedev suggested that removing flushable toilet roll centers was part of a European conspiracy to “punish Russia” and a plan to replace conventional toilet paper to prevent deforestation.
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He claimed that all stocks of the reusable toilet paper were quickly sold out, when in fact it had been withdrawn from sale over health concerns and the need to use strong chemicals to ensure proper cleansing – which were harmful to the environment. Other attempts to produce environmentally friendly reuseable toilet paper continue despite the reluctance of the public to make the switch.
For Russians the days of having to dispose the center of their toilet rolls in the garbage or recycling bins will soon be over.
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