China's toilet paper suppliers in a flush

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2005

SHANGHAI (AFP) — Surging demand for toilet paper in China has some of the nation's suppliers in a flush, state press said.

"I'm happy to see many young people adopt paper tissues for the convenience, which is a sign that reflects our social development and has helped improve our industry," Wang Yueqin, vice-director of Shanghai Paper Trade Association, said.

But Wang, quoted in the China Daily, said he was "beginning to worry about the large wood consumption" and the industry needed to consider other technologies and uses.

"We are trying to encourage the application of new materials and technologies," he said, pointing to one factory in Jiangsu province now making toilet paper from straw.

Another in southern Guangxi has managed to produce tissues...