Let’s toss the tube!

I’m a routine kind of gal. Every morning I get up, walk our dog and turn on The Today Show while I make my daily brew of Caribou Blend coffee. I also like to think of myself as an environment- and health-conscious kind of person. I pick up any trash I see on the ground (assuming people missed the trash bin, right?), recycle when it’s available, eat healthy and use green products. Any bit helps!

While I was watching The Today Show this morning, a “green” commercial caught my attention (watch to the right). Scott® Brand Products launched a new product that ditches toilet paper rolls – Scott Naturals Tube-Free. The commercial gives viewers actual statistics (that are frankly quite shocking) about how many toilet paper rolls are thrown away each year – 17 billion in the United States – which is enough to fill the Empire State Building twice. How crazy is that! Americans throw away enough toilet paper rolls to fill the fourth largest building in the U.S. I feel bad for our planet. But, Scott was still able to sell the toilet paper as a premium-quality product while reducing waste. No sacrifices there.

I was eager to research more about the product and the online campaign Scott was running to promote it because the statistics in the commercial alone were so fascinating to me. The landing page gives consumers even crazier statistics by counting how many toilet paper rolls have already been thrown away during the amount of time they’ve been on the page, then totaling how many pounds of waste that equivocates to. The time I spent writing this blog had already produced over 9,000 pounds of waste. I feel bad for our planet… again.

It also directs consumers to the product’s YouTube channel where it showcases the commercial and covers the social media aspect of the campaign. #TossTheTube is the hashtag for the campaign, prompting consumers to “#TossTheTube for good, and do your part to reduce tube waste without sacrificing quality.” Consumers can pledge to #TossTheTube on both Facebook and Twitter.

And according to Scott’s Facebook page, there is a “big announcement” on July 19, so of course I’ll continue checking in until then. Even though the campaign just launched and still needs to take off on social media, whoever has organized this campaign so far has done a darn good job at connecting all areas of their media into one cohesive campaign and at keeping people interested with fun statistics.

The product isn’t available in all stores yet, which is probably the most difficult part of the deal (and maybe the big surprise on July 19!), but at least it’s prompting people to think twice about the environment and the part they play in reducing waste on our planet. I applaud Scott for launching a product and campaign that makes routine-driven, eco-friendly, social-media-crazed people feel empathetic towards our earth (or is it just me?). And, quite possibly even feel prompted to invest in their au naturel toilet paper. I’m excited to observe how long it takes all TP companies to rid the cardboard roll.

Are you compelled to #TossTheTube?