Greencane Ecopaper review and GIVEAWAY!

My lovely friend Amber, modeling the prize pack.

I was really excited when I learned that a New Zealand couple, Geoff and Helen Arden, has started a business making environmentally friendly and sustainable paper products out of the residue left over from sugar extraction. 

Their business is called Greencane.

Geoff Arden very kindly sent me packs of Greencane toilet paper, paper towels and tissues to review for Craving Fresh. 

He even sent me extra so I could offer a giveaway to you guys.

About Greencane Ecopaper

Up to 70% of Greencane paper is made from a mix of recycled sugarcane and bamboo fibre (bagasse), a byproduct of the sugar refining process. (Bagasse supplies are virtually unlimited worldwide). To obtain both strength and softness, Greencane then adds 30% FSC wood pulp.

Something I learned when I used to deal with printing companies for work is that anytime you see "FSC" labeling on a paper product, you can nod your head and feel good about buying that product.  The entire FSC process is sustainable - planting, processing, shipping. It's actually better for the environment than recycling paper.

So Greencane has taken waste products, combined them with sustainable wood pulp products and made a truly environmentally friendly product we can feel good about using. 

My friend, Amber (seen modeling above) helped me review the Greencane products, so I will share her thoughts as well as mine below.

Paper kitchen towels

Emma: I don't usually use paper towels at home, but they seem as good as any I've ever used. I really enjoyed being able to clean up spills on the floor with one and then throw it in my compost bin. The worms will love eating it and any of the food stuck to it, and I'm not having to wash as many floor rags.

Amber: The paper towels I thought were good. I took some down to church and they performed the same as the other brand ones they already had.

Toilet paper

Emma: The toilet paper was my favourite of the three products. It has actually become my favourite toilet paper ever. 

It's really nice looking with an attractive embossed pattern. 

It's soft yet solid (ie. it didn't flake little bits of toilet paper around the place). 

I found that one roll lasts a long time. Each roll has 300 sheets of two-ply, where normal rolls only have 230, and because the sheets are so strong and absorbant, you don't need to use much each time.

Amber: The toilet paper was the real winner. I was totally impressed, it was soft and strong and looks really nice - not sort of half bleached like the other eco ones! I would definitely buy the toilet paper.

Facial tissues

Emma: I'm really fussy about tissues, having suffered chronic hay fever forever. There's only one brand I usually buy, because it's super soft and comes with aloe vera to sooth my skin. 

For everyday use I found the Greencane ones fine, but would probably want something softer if I had a cold. 

Something I liked about the tissues is that they are really strong, so were good for urgent face and hand wipes at the table. They also come in a small square box, so are easy to dot around the house and in the pram for sudden sneeze attacks or spills. Kind of like a portable, easy access paper towel.

Amber: I thought the tissues weren't particularly soft, or large, but probably on a par with other brands like Pams. 

Giveaway

(Open to New Zealand residents only.)

I've got one Greencane Ecopaper home range pack to give away to a lucky Craving Fresh follower. The pack includes a set of toilet paper (4 rolls of 300 sheets), facial tissues (one box of 85 tissues) and paper towels (2 rolls of 70 sheets).

The competition opens now and will run through till 8am next Thursday 30 May 2013 (New Zealand time). A winner will be selected at random from the comments below.

There are a variety of ways to enter this competition, just leave a separate comment below for each method you choose.

Include an email address for me to contact you on if you are the winner. Write it in code though so the spam bots don't find it, eg. cravingfresh (at) yahoo (dot) com. You can either include the email address in your comment, or email it to me separately at cravingfresh (at) yahoo (dot) com.

1. Visit the Greencane website: www.greencane.com/home and comment below why you would like to win the Greencane Ecopaper home range prize pack. 
2. Become a fan of Craving Fresh on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CravingFresh (and let me know in the comments below that you've done so - comment if you're already a fan as well).
3. Post a link to this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter (and comment below that you've done so).
4. Follow Craving Fresh (and comment below that you do).
5. Sign up to receive Craving Fresh emails (and comment below that you've done so).

If for any reason, you have trouble commented below, you can enter this competition by posting your comments over at Craving Fresh on Facebook.

Thanks for entering this giveaway competition. Good luck to you all!