Column	Explanation of Criteria and Terms
Product Name, Company	This list includes both products in which "Company" identifies the manufacturer and others where "Company" identifies a private label retailer -- a grocery store or other company that contracts with outside manufacturers to make products under the retailer's brand name. For information on how the list of products and companies was created, so below.
Rating	Products identified as Green Must be made with 100 percent total recycled content OR must ensure that any virgin fiber content is FSC-certified and have an endangered forests policy in place Must contain at least the following minimum post-consumer content: Paper towels and napkins: 40 percent Toilet paper: 30 percent Facial tissue: 20 percent Must not be made using elemental chlorine bleaching Must not be made using a pulping caustic produced by a chlor-alkali plant that uses mercury Products with a rating of Yellow partially meet the criteria for a rating of Green or may meet these criteria but NRDC could not confirm the environmental attributes of these products -- generally because the company failed to respond to a request for information or failed to provide a written commitment about the product's attributes. For example, a product made with 100 percent recycled content but no post-consumer content would qualify as Yellow, as would a product which has some post-consumer content but less than the amount required for a rating of Green. Products made by companies that have made a verbal or a written commitment to Green attributes but have not yet completely fulfilled this commitment are also listed as Yellow. Products identified as Red contain fibers from ancient and/or endangered forests, and/or are bleached with elemental chlorine, and/or are produced with pulping caustic which is manufactured using mercury, and/or fail to meet other criteria for a Green rating.This rating has also been given to products made by companies that have refused to make commitments to meeting the Green list criteria in the future, such as commitments to procure post-consumer recycled fiber or FSC-certified fiber.
Total Percent Recycled	Measures recycled content, including both pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled fiber.
Percent Post-Consumer	Measures proportion of environmentally preferable post-consumer fiber, which is made from materials collected and recycled after they have reached their original end use (for example, wastepaper from an office or newspapers recycled by individuals).
FSC	Indicates whether a company that uses virgin fiber has a policy in place to ensure that any virgin fiber used comes from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The Forest Stewardship Council is a nonprofit organization that has established rigorous environmental, social and economic standards for sustainable forest management. Several other forest certification programs exist, but they set weaker standards for forest management. The Forest Stewardship Council is independent from the logging industry, unlike some of the other programs, and is the only credible seal of approval for good wood products. Yes: Company has made a firm commitment to use FSC-certified fiber for 100 percent of the virgin fiber used in its products. Partial: Company has established a preference for using FSC-certified fiber, but is not using or has not made a firm commitment to using it for 100 percent of the virgin fiber used in its products. No: Company has not established a preference for using FSC-certified fiber; may have established a preference for certified fiber without specifically prioritizing FSC. N/A: Company is not using virgin fiber to produce this product.
Endangered Forest Protection	Indicates whether a company that uses virgin fiber in its products has made a firm commitment to protect endangered forests, as defined in Ecological Components of Endangered Forests, a July 2005 paper by ForestEthics, Greenpeace, NRDC and Rainforest Action Network. No: Company using virgin fiber in its products has not made a firm commitment to protect endangered forests as defined above. N/A: Company is not using virgin fiber to produce this product.
Bleaching	Indicates the type of chemical process, if any, used to lighten or whiten products. Explanations of the abbreviations for these processes follow. NRDC's order of preference for these processes, on the basis of environmental criteria, is: 1. PCF; 2. TCF or partial PCF (less than 100 percent); 3. Enhanced ECF with ozone or hydrogen peroxide; 4. Enhanced ECF (ECF with extended or oxygen delignification); 5. ECF Processed chlorine-free (PCF): Contains recycled content produced without elemental chlorine or chlorine derivatives, although one or more fiber components may have originally been bleached with chlorine or chlorine derivatives. Any virgin pulp is TCF. Totally chlorine-free (TCF): Virgin paper produced without chlorine or chlorine derivatives (the bleaching process uses oxygen-based compounds). Elemental chlorine-free (ECF): Replaces elemental chlorine with chlorine dioxide in the bleaching process. ECF with extended or oxygen delignification (Enhanced ECF): Removes more of the lignin from the wood before bleaching, thus reducing energy and chemical use during bleaching (the final stage uses chlorine dioxide). Enhanced ECF with ozone or hydrogen peroxide: In addition to removing more of the lignin from the wood before bleaching, substitutes ozone or hydrogen peroxide for chlorine or chlorine dioxides as a brightening agent in the initial stages of the bleaching process (the final or near-final stage uses chlorine dioxide).
Mercury Avoidance	Indicates whether a company has verified that this product was not made using caustic soda from a chlor-alkali plant that uses mercury. This outdated manufacturing process, used in only a handful of chlor-alkali plants, is a substantial source of mercury pollution. (For details on the health risks of mercury exposure, click here.)
How NRDC Collected Information from Tissue Paper Manufacturers and Retailers NRDC researchers constructed an initial list of tissue products based on several existing sources of information, including lists compiled by Greenpeace Canada, Conservatree, and Alameda County. NRDC supplemented this initial list with product information from manufacturers' websites and by surveying product labels in grocery stores, drugstores and other retail outlets. We contacted each company by mail to request and verify information, and followed up by phone and email. We sent a second round of letters to companies that failed to respond to the first letter, and again followed up by phone and email. Each company on the list was contacted a minimum of four times before NRDC assigned a Company Did Not Respond (?) to the company's product or products.

Note: NRDC provides this assessment of the environmental characteristics of tissue paper products to help consumers make informed choices. NRDC does not endorse any products.