NRDC Report: Controversial Ontario Mill May Feed Big Toilet Paper Brands

WASHINGTON, DC (September 15, 2026) — NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) released the eighth edition of “The Issue with Tissue” report today, which scores major toilet paper, paper towel, and facial tissue brands on their impacts on forests, climate, and – for the first time – human rights. In addition to the sustainability scorecard, a report highlighting Ontario's controversial Dryden Mill was also released today, examining the impacts of the facility on nearby First Nations communities and the brands utilizing the mill's products.

The facility is at the center of a mercury crisis that has poisoned Grassy Narrows First Nation for more than fifty years. As part of the report, NRDC traced some store-brand tissue products sold by Costco and Walmart to First Quality, the company that owns Ontario's Dryden mill. Fourteen of the companies NRDC contacted for its report reviewed their sourcing and confirmed the mill was not a supplier. Costco and Walmart never disclosed the results of any review or addressed whether their products were connected to Dryden pulp.

Following is a statement from Ashley Jordan, Global Forest Risk Analyst at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): 

“Costco and Walmart both have written commitments to respect Indigenous rights and to remediate harm in their supply chains. Both chains sell some store-brand tissue made by the company that owns this mill. Based on this, we asked them one question: Does pulp from the Dryden mill end up in the products with your name on them?

“Their peers answered it. Costco and Walmart would not, even when we showed them evidence about specific products on their own shelves. When this many companies can confirm they are not sourcing from this mill, the silence from these two speaks for itself. But this should be obvious. Toilet paper should not come at the cost of forests or people's health. It is time for Costco and Walmart to join their peers.”

Report Findings:

The Dryden mill – now operating as Dryden Fibre Canada – is owned by First Quality, a major North American manufacturer of both branded tissue, including Panda toilet paper and Plenty paper towels, and private-label products for large retailers. NRDC identified Kirkland Signature, Great Value, and Member's Mark products carrying a PEFC license code registered to First Quality, and Walmart's website listed First Quality-branded products for sale.

When First Quality bought the mill in 2023, it described the purchase as intended in part to secure long-term “access and availability to high quality fiber supplies.” In 2025, Ontario's Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp came from just two operating mills, Dryden Fibre Canada and Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper, and about half the province's pulp exports went to Pennsylvania and South Carolina, where First Quality's major tissue plants operate.

NBSK pulp is a commonly used ingredient in most toilet papers and paper towels. First Quality's vertical integration makes it likely that some of the mill's pulp ends up in the products it manufactures, including private-label goods for Costco and Walmart. Neither the company nor the retailers disclose enough about their supply chains and sourcing practices for an outsider to definitively confirm which products contain Dryden pulp. Together, this evidence creates a strong supply-chain link between the mill and these store brands.

Beginning in October 2025, NRDC asked leading tissue manufacturers and retailers to investigate potential links between their forest fiber products and Dryden pulp. Companies including Kimberly-Clark, Procter & Gamble, Target, and Amazon reviewed their sourcing and reported no current connection for the products NRDC identified. Costco and Walmart acknowledged the inquiry but never disclosed the results of any review or any resulting actions.

NRDC's new scorecard flags Kirkland Signature toilet paper and paper towels, Great Value toilet paper, and Member's Mark toilet paper and paper towels as high-risk for associated human rights abuses affecting Grassy Narrows First Nation. Both retailers publicly commit to respecting Indigenous Peoples' rights, including free, prior, and informed consent, and commit to require suppliers to minimize and remediate community harm. The report finds that a supplier relationship with the Dryden mill's owner is precisely the risk those policies exist to catch.

Mercury Issues:

Between 1962 and 1970, the Dryden mill discharged roughly nine metric tons of untreated mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system upstream of Grassy Narrows. The mercury accumulated in fish that were a dietary, cultural, and economic cornerstone for the community, poisoning residents through a staple food. The commercial fishing bans that followed collapsed the local economy, with employment dropping from roughly 90 percent to about 10 percent. Researchers estimate that about 90 percent of the community now experiences symptoms consistent with mercury poisoning, including tremors, cognitive and motor dysfunction, increased suicidality, and premature death. Exposure crosses the placenta, harming children before they are born.

The contamination has never been remediated, and the mill's present-day operations are making it worse. A 2024 study from the University of Western Ontario found that the mill's wastewater interacts with the mercury already in the river, transforming it into methylmercury, a far more potent neurotoxin, effectively doubling mercury levels in Wabigoon River fish.

Grassy Narrows leaders and community members have repeatedly called for the mill to be shut down, arguing that its continued operation is incompatible with the community's rights to health, clean water, and cultural survival.

The Scorecard:

The eighth edition of The Issue with Tissue scores major toilet paper, paper towel, and facial tissue brands on their impacts on forests, climate, and – for the first time – a human rights screen. It documents Kimberly-Clark's reported 50 percent reduction in natural forest fiber purchases, Georgia-Pacific's relaunch of a tissue brand with 100 percent recycled content, and Procter & Gamble's inconsistency, pairing a bamboo toilet paper with continued heavy reliance on forest fiber across its flagship brands.

NRDC is calling on tissue companies to cut forest fiber use 50 percent by 2030, build traceability across all suppliers, respect Indigenous rights, and avoid suppliers linked to unresolved human rights harms and forest degradation. It urges retailers to scrutinize both private-label and third-party products, and policymakers to require mandatory due diligence, including full implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation and passage of the TREE Act.

The full report and scorecard are available here.

###

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).