Marcal repackages already-great Paper Products
By Karina | July 7, 2008
Team Tiny Choices is no stranger to Marcal paper goods, but I was surprised when I was in the grocery store this weekend to see that Marcal has repackaged their paper products to be more, well, obviously green. What is also interesting is that with the repackaging, they are also more obviously EXPENSIVE. I’m used to Marcal from my years living in a historically economically disadvantaged part of New York City - it was always the cheapest type of toilet paper around, and the fact that it was also made from recycled paper was just a huge bonus. [I wish I could link you to some awesome Marcal Paper Product Facts but as I write this they’re upgrading their webpage, so y’all will have to do your own fact gathering. sorry!]
I thought it was so interesting that Marcal had repackaged it’s paper goods to take advantage of the upsurge of green consumerism — up above you can see the store display with the new Sunrise by Marcal branding and our old friend Clorox Green Works. I thought this would be a great opportunity for a little comparison on the premium companies place on green products. Here are snaps of the two packages - you can see that Regular Marcal is sold for 2.99 while the repackaged Sunrise brand is sold for 4.29. That’s a huge markup! We’re talking about a 43% here!
What you may not be able to see is that other than the price and the (literally) greener package are the product specifics. It says on each package that they are:
- 100% recycled “paper made from paper
- 80% Post-Consumer Content
- Manufactured without Chlorine Bleaching
- Virtually Lint Free
- 123.7 Square feet and 60 2-ply sheest per roll.
These two towels are, seriously, exactly the same! I went back and searched Tiny Choices for our conversations on Marcal and came across this gem in the comments of an easy peasy tip from way back when, where a Marcal VP says that they don’t like to advertise their products as recycled because then they are perceived as unclean by the consumer. I guess they got over that issue, hey?
Now, here is my question: is the perceived greenness of paper towels here enough to merit such a huge mark up in price? Is this just designed to capture the hurried shopper who wants to do a better job? If you look straight down the aisle (not exactly next to, but very close to) you can see the cheaper but equally as awesome regular Marcal brand towels. But if you don’t have time to read the package, or if you’re familiar with Marcal being a budget item for purchase, or if you automatically write off this brand b/c there is Spanish on the package, well, then Sunrise is ready to help you be green for a convenience fee. Am I being to harsh on consumers? Go Marcal, I say - take advantage of the burgeoning green goods market place. But c’mon, now, shoppers. Read the labels!
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ha - i had the same experience recently when shopping for TP! i was in the aisle holding both packages thinking to myself “what the heck is the difference here???” it almost made me want to get a totally different eco-friendly TP! but, i didn’t - stuck with the marcal.
maybe that extra money they are charging is going to some great environmental cause??
we can dream, right? ;)
I must have missed that older post, because I didn’t know they were the same. We’ve bought the Sunrise TP a few times (and like it), but when I head to the store later, I’m going to have to see if they’re still carrying the standard Marcal line, too and what the price differential is. Thank you for the heads-up.
I may be too hasty, too - maybe many people really aren’t familiar with marcal as I am! It isn’t advertised at all, as much as I can tell.
I think it’s absolutely insane that Marcal is repackaging the exact same product and selling it at a 43% markup. One of the problems with “green products” is that they are usually so much more expensive than the traditional/earth-unfriendly version, so the average consumer won’t pay the extra price. One of the things I loved about regular Marcal was that it was both eco-friendly and inexpensive– so it didn’t cater exclusively to the green market, and by buying it because it was cheaper, regular folks ended up making the more environmentally-friendly choice just because they wanted to save some money.
I think that green products need to just become our mainstream products, in order to have market saturation and really begin to make a difference in the pollution us average citizens create. If companies keep pricing their products as “exclusive earh savers” and price them accordingly, we’re never going to reach the common consumer.
I think most people are in a rush to “get in and get out” and probably only spend a few seconds deciding which product to take off the shelf, similar to how much time people spend browsing web pages. The problem is that if the newer packaging is more popular (which I’m guessing it will be - it’s a lot more eye catching) then the older packaging will be discontinued and everyone gets to pay more. At the end of the day, Marcal is a business and you can’t fault them for trying to make more money.
I, on the other hand, spend HOURS in the TP aisle reading packaging. but that has more to do with my obsessive reading habit than everything else.
[…] Tiny Choices talks TP. […]
I’ve not seen this brand of TP before, but then again I’m usually in a hurry to get through shopping and back to the house. I’ll have to look for it on my next shopping trip. Thanks for sharing!
I always use seventh generation tiolet paper, cause when i bought the sunrise i swear it had a really chemically gross smell to it. maybe it was their recycling or bleaching process but it certainly didn’t smell as hypoallergenic as seventh generation’s tp.
I thought it was interesting that it said hypoallergenic - I didn’t realize that it was an issue, but then, I veer straight away from perfumed products too.
When it comes to paper towels, our best conservation comes from keeping cloth napkins next to the PT roll and simply using fewer paper towels. I also buy the kind where you can rip off 6 inches at once instead of a whole foot. And we recycle them instead of throwing away, when possible.
My husband bought a “green” brand of paper towels, and you can’t even rip one off without destroying the next towel on the roll. Silly.
Thanks for the info- I’ve spent a considerable amount of time perusing the tp at our small grocery store, and never could find any that said they were recycled. I’ll have to double check to see if they have Marcal there after all. I wonder, how many of the brands they carry ARE recycled, and the marketers just don’t want us to know?
that is so absurd! marcal is what i usually buy - i am going to have to search for some sort of alternative
oh, why switch? Let marcel make their money but show your brand loyalty to their budget option!
i feel a little funny because i was taken aback by the plastic packaging. for some reason i equate marcal with the individual, paper wrapped packaging.
i buy my toilet paper from trader joes. a twleve pack is under $4.00 it is 100% recycled. I can’t recall whether it is 30-ish or 80-ish % post consumer waste and they also don’t use chlorine bleach in it, which is super important. the downfall, if i am recalling correctly, is the plastic packaging isn’t recyclable.
Your title made me thin this was going to be a post about the plastic packaging. Everything in that photo is in PLASTIC! I don’t use Marcal products but I certainly wouldn’t now that I know that they are on the green washing band wagon. I mean, charging more for the SAME product and then also claiming to be “green” when everything is wrapped in plastic? No thanks!
wait–is there a toilet paper brand that doesn’t use plastic packaging?
Marcal wraps their single rolls up in paper, not plastic.
ah, i guess that’s handy if your grocery store stocks single rolls. also, i wonder what the price markup is when buying single vs “bulk.”
i looked at a roll of marcal that i had, and the paper packaging says its 30 % post consumer recycled, so maybe the sunrise does have greater post consumer content, but shouldn’t that make it cheaper and not more pricey? i
[…] Marcal repackages already-great Paper Products […]
this is a piecie of disaster you r killing trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!