Best Non Toxic Toilet Paper (2026): PFAS in 42 Rolls, and Which Came Back Clean

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Toilet paper is the paper product that meets the most sensitive skin on the body, several times a day, for a lifetime. It is also made by the same industry that uses PFAS to make paper shed water and grease. Since 2023 there has been good reason to ask whether any of that chemistry ends up in the roll.

It does, in small amounts, and the rolls sold as the cleaner choice are no cleaner. This is what the testing found, what it does and does not tell you about your own exposure, and the rolls with a recent clean result.

Does toilet paper have PFAS in it?

Yes, at trace levels. In March 2023 a University of Florida team led by Timothy Townsend published measurements of 21 rolls bought in North America, South America, Africa and Western Europe. Every one carried PFAS. Most of it was a single compound, 6:2 diPAP, which can break down into more persistent PFAS once it reaches the environment.

Mamavation, working with Environmental Health News, screened 42 rolls between 2021 and 2026 for organic fluorine, the marker every PFAS compound carries. Six showed it, at 6 to 35 parts per million. The two results agree once you see what each method can detect. The university measured individual compounds at trace concentrations. The screen only flags a roll once its total fluorine reaches 10 parts per million, a far higher bar. PFAS looks common in toilet paper at low levels, and a few rolls carry enough to clear the coarser test.

Mamavation reads levels this low as unlikely to be added on purpose, and more likely to come from contamination somewhere in the supply chain, such as the pulp, the mill or the packaging. Nothing in either set of results says which step it came from, so a result belongs to the roll that was tested and not to everything else a brand sells.

Bamboo, recycled or regular: which is cleaner?

None of them reliably. Bamboo and recycled rolls are sold on being better for the planet, and most shoppers assume they are better for them too. The screen does not bear that out. One conventional roll in thirteen showed a PFAS marker, one recycled roll in six, and four bamboo or sugarcane rolls in twenty three. The plainest store brand rolls, from Costco, Sam's Club, Target, Aldi and Trader Joe's, all came back clean.

Why it matters, even at trace levels

Three things make toilet paper worth getting right. It is used several times a day, every day, for a lifetime, so a small amount repeats more often than almost anything else in the house. It touches mucosal skin, which absorbs more readily than the back of a hand. And PFAS leave the body slowly, some taking years, so small repeated exposures add up rather than wash out. A 2024 University of Birmingham study found that most of the 17 PFAS it applied to lab grown human skin passed through it, the shorter compounds most easily.

Nobody has yet measured the dose from toilet paper itself, so we will not put a number on it. What is documented is how much leaves the house: the Florida team estimated that toilet paper supplies about 4 percent of that main compound in US and Canadian sewage, 35 percent in Sweden and as much as 89 percent in France. And this is one of the easiest exposures in the home to remove. The clean rolls cost no more than the flagged ones and work exactly the same.

Recycled rolls and receipt paper

Recycled toilet paper carries a second question that has nothing to do with PFAS. Thermal receipt paper is coated with BPA or its replacement BPS, receipts end up in the paper recycling, and the coating travels into the pulp. A German study measured BPA in three recycled rolls bought in 2001 at up to 46 milligrams per kilogram, though its authors noted the figures were hard to quantify. A 2020 Brazilian study found BPA in all eight rolls it checked. Virgin pulp in the German work read at or near nothing.

BPA mimics estrogen, and BPS, the replacement on many receipts now, behaves much the same in lab studies. No toilet paper brand sold today has been tested for either, so there is no list of recycled rolls proven free of them. The reliable way around it is the fibre: bamboo and virgin pulp rolls never pass through the receipt stream. If you prefer recycled for the forests, the recycled pick below at least has a clean PFAS screen from 2026.

How we vet toilet paper

• Independent testing on the exact roll. The PFAS screen, and how recent it is. A clean result older than three years no longer counts, because pulp suppliers and mills change. A bad result stands until a newer test replaces it.
• What it is made of. Fibre, bleaching and certifications, and anything added to the paper: lotion, fragrance, dye or print.
• Lawsuits and notices. California Proposition 65 notices and class actions, read for the roll itself rather than everything the parent company sells.
• Recalls. The US consumer product and food and drug registers, confirmed against the company named on the record.

The picks

Every pick has a clean PFAS screen from 2025 or 2026 on the roll itself, no fragrance or lotion, and a long record of owner reviews. They are grouped by where you shop rather than ranked on chemistry, because on the testing they are equals.

BEST OVERALL · $$

Betterway Bamboo Toilet Paper

100% bamboo fibre, FSC certified, 3 ply, 360 sheets a roll. Unscented, no inks or dyes, each roll wrapped in paper. No organic fluorine detected in a March 2026 screen.

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EASIEST TO ORDER · $$

Amazon Aware Bamboo Toilet Paper

Bamboo tissue on a bamboo core with cornstarch adhesive, FSC certified, 3 ply. Elemental chlorine free, no fragrance or dye, paper wrapped. No organic fluorine detected in a September 2026 screen.

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BUDGET · $

Member's Mark Ultra Premium Bath Tissue

Conventional 2 ply bath tissue from Sam's Club, unscented, no lotion or print. Fibre and bleaching are not disclosed. No organic fluorine detected in a September 2026 screen.

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BUDGET AT TARGET · $

up&up Soft & Strong Bath Tissue

Conventional 2 ply bath tissue, no fragrance added, SFI certified sourcing on the pack, made in the USA. No organic fluorine detected in a March 2026 screen.

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BEST RECYCLED · $$

Rosey 100% Recycled Bath Tissue

100% recycled paper, at least half post consumer, whitened without chlorine bleach, SFI certified sourcing. No synthetic fragrance. No organic fluorine detected in a March 2026 screen.

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MEGA ROLLS · $$

ecoHiny Bamboo Toilet Paper

100% bamboo from FSC certified farms, 3 ply, 350 sheets on a bamboo core. Elemental chlorine free, unscented, no ink or dye, paper wrapped. No organic fluorine detected in a September 2026 screen.

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Every pick here is also in our store, in the bathroom section.

Every roll in the screen

All 42 rolls Mamavation screened for organic fluorine, with our verdict on each. A clean result from before November 2023 is shown as out of date: it was clean then, and nobody has checked the roll since. Several of those rolls have since been reformulated or discontinued.

The ones we did not pick

How to choose a roll

• Unscented, with no lotion and no print. Fragrance is an undisclosed mixture, and there is no reason to wipe it on sensitive skin several times a day.
• A recent test beats any claim on the pack. Several makers print PFAS free on the wrapper. A claim is not a measurement, and a roll's own clean result from the last three years is the thing to look for.
• Bleaching is worth reading, not worth paying for. Totally or processed chlorine free means no chlorine at all, and elemental chlorine free means chlorine dioxide rather than chlorine gas. Nothing in the testing so far separates them.
• Store brands are a sound choice. Some of the cheapest rolls on the shelf have the cleanest recent results.
• Recycled is a forest choice with a receipt problem. If BPA worries you more than deforestation, choose bamboo or virgin pulp.

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