An environmentally friendly alternative to toilet paper has been popping up online recently, with reusable toilet paper cloths being offered to those willing to wash them for reuse.
Popular e-commerce website Etsy is the best place to find the new cloths which are often labelled family cloths and printed with unique designs.
The cloths are used like regular toilet paper, but instead of being flushed users then put them aside to be washed and used again.
A recent article on Buzzfeed tracked a family who use the cloths to see exactly how the system works.
They say the cloths are cost effective for the family of four and after using them for a year "we can't imagine going back to regular toilet paper".
The family in question only uses the cloths for when they go number one and use baby wipes for their other leavings as they don't clog the toilet.
However, other bloggers who have charted their experiences using the cloths say they use them for all their toilet related clean up needs.
Some people commenting on Instagram posts about the new trend have questioned whether it's actually better for the environment in the long run.
"I wonder if anyone has actually done a life cycle analysis to see if this is actually helping the environment?
"The amount of hot water and cleanser you'd need to disinfect the cloths (getting feacal bacteria anywhere else is a recipe for a UTI) has to have some impact on the environment."
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