By Staff who pinched the story from the Chicago Tribune.
BURLINGTON, ON June 13, 2011 – Kimberly-Clark has begun testing sales of the Scott Naturals Tube-Free brand of TP that doesn’t need a cardboard tube to keep the good times rolling. It’s the biggest change seen by toilet paper users since the roll first appeared in the 1800s.
But response isn’t all flushed with excitement for terminating the tube, often reused for arts and crafts projects or as pet toys.
“You just know it’s done. It’s over. It’s finished. You need a new roll,” said Samm Reed, a customer at a Pennsylvania Wal-Mart. “There’s something about that tube.”
To her, the appearance of a brown cardboard cylinder signifies something momentous — the end of an era.
Kari Love, of West York, Penn., pointed to the new rolls’ central holes. Designed to fit around a spindle, they’re shaped like polygons instead of circles.
“How are you going to get your holder in there?” Love asked. “I’m in my 40s. I grew up, and they always had a tube. I’m environmentally conscious. I recycle, but this doesn’t look like it’s going to work.”
According to a Kimberly-Clark news release, U.S. households use an estimated 17 billion bath tissue tubes annually, amounting to 160 million pounds of waste.
The company conducted a survey of 1,000 people that found 85 percent throw the tubes out with the trash.
At Wal-Mart, Scott’s Naturals Tube-Free costs $2.97 for four rolls containing 205.2 square feet compared to the tube-inclusive Scott brand, which costs $3.98 for four rolls containing 419.2 square feet of paper.
Anna Hall, of West York, Penn., didn’t seem so sure about paying more per sheet to lose the tubes, sometimes coveted by children as make-believe telescopes and finger puppets.
“Oh for Pete’s sake!” she said. “If they do away with (the tube), we won’t have anything to build with in Sunday school class.”
Only in America!
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