Does a bear s*** in the woods?

Eric Ganz, Dearborn , Michigan/United States

"Personal hygiene, a problem in the First World War trenches, was given a high priority when the Germans mounted the Blitzkrieg of the Second World War."...

If only their moral hygiene was to match their personal hygiene...

Neo, Jerusalem, Israel

I cannot believe I am actually responding to this ... but I use a brand of toilet paper that is soft and has a 1000 sheets to a roll. To the Israeli poster, US toilet paper is not measured in mms but in inches!

Marlene, Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Well, 6 sheets per day seems pretty fair to me.

But as for the average Brit using 110 rolls per year ?
One every three days ? These figures need a sanity check: it can't be right

Martin, Bristol,

To save trees, I never use any. I use a bidet.

Sun Ying, Montreal, Canada/Quebec

I think I would rather use a sheet of paper than wipe with water and my hand thanks...

Sam Smith, Liverpool, UK

Quite amazing how many men are experts on bog paper.

Phil de Buquet, Newport, England

justin that is exactly what occured to me, there are facts and there are figures, manipulate them to suit yourself.

Colin Thomas, leighton buzzard, beds

You could use the whole roll wipeing the frame untill it gets sore but it will never be clean unless you use water.Well just dip a couple of sheets in water and wipe -Now you have nice clean backside.

zalim, siwan Bihar,

Asri,

If there was a bidet in every cubical I would agree with you. Have you ever ever tried picking up a dirty hose lying in the floor pan, turning on an equally filthy tap and trying to aim the jet in the right direction at a suitable pressure.
In a north African airport just to give one example, albeit ten years ago, even farmyard animals shod in wellingtons would have been reluctant to use it
The agony of having to give it a miss will not be forgotten

K G Rode-Hilbert, Leicester, UK

What a load of crap!

Nicky P, Altrincham, England

A standing joke in the 50's was that the FRENCH issued one sheet of paper (by the old lady in public toilets) and the customer folded it in four, tore out the centre making a hole for the digit and then used the corners to clean the nail. Some walls looked as if would-be Jackson Pollocks had been in there. As for thickness: In SPAIN, it takes four sheets folded together to stop the finger going through it, but in AMERICA rich folk have loo paper which was f o u r t i m e s the thickness of Brit. toilet paper. Why not copy the Yanks? One sheet per person would make the statistics look much better.
P.S: French viticulteurs use the watering can and the digit in their own vines, thus saving on paper and fertiliser.
As for soldiers, facilities in barracks in Aldershot often contained this advice:
If no paper can be found...wipe your arse along the ground.
peter kinsley (www.peterkinsley.com)
London.

peter kinsley (www.peterkinsley.com, London, England

"Britons use an average 110 rolls of toilet paper a year"
About 2 a week, each, right?

"In an average household in the US and Western Europe, a roll in the house’s most-used bathroom lasts about five days"

That's 73 a year.

Eh?

Justin, Nr. Lincoln, UK

I await the "beancounters" in my job analysing toilet roll "consumption" in the workplace - producing graphs charts and Performance Statistics from it.
Got to be worth £30k a year and an air conditioned office on regular 8-4 days as "Loo roll co-ordinator".
Yes - I am in the Public service

Richard Garland, Greater Manchester,

""Germany is of greater area than in Britian or the US.
Germans use A6 size which is 148 by 105 mm.
The British standard is 124 by 110 mm.""

Have the EU not pulled their finger out and co-ordinated a Europe wide standard yet - with the CE mark on it. How can we wipe our backsides safely and cleanly when we go abroad if the sheets are narrower !

Richard Garland, Greater Manchester,

Probably to a response that NATO were asking them to send their forces to Helmand Province !!!

kirk, Rotherham, UK

This is absolutely the dark side of Western society....On one side they try to build "Eco-friendly" cars like latest MercedezF700 and on other side they kill zillions of trees..what a contrast...Learn from East to live and let live (not only with humans but other living beings such as trees)

Jigish Parikh, Austin, USA

Probably recycling. i.e. The German sqauddie flogs the paper to a middle man who then flogs it back to the army. Very efficient. Monsieur Satignan might note that the average German sqauddie writes 'known' 'critcise' and 'Jealousy' as we do!

Rustle, Paris, France

I recommend the approach suggested by Dave Lister in Red Dwarf when he referred to his annoying space nerd colleague Arnold Rimmer's usage:

"This is the guy who only ever uses three sheets of toilet paper. One up, one down and one to polish."

chris, Worthing, England

Earnan - consume more if you must, you're the one that's paying for it...

Oli, Bristol,

"Ze Germanz have vonce again proven to us mere mortals that even their BOWLES are superior to everyone else.

kambiz shahri, Pretoria, South Africa"

Truly remarkable - a racist statement about people being racist!

joe, brussels, belgium

Could they be making rockets from the cores the way it's done on Blue Peter?

FEF, Cheltenham, UK

Clearly they do not have a bidet...So much cleaner.

GPDAmico, Ventimiglia,

Probably some cultures use their fingers instead of toilet paper, and this is a reason for so low consumption. And Green fanatics may be do not use anything at all, just to keep recycling their own waste "in place".
It's a matter of taste.
It is well knwon that Germans are very well organised (never putting everything on the floor, like here) and if they have a piece of furniture for everything... why are you going to critise if they clean properly avoiding fingers. Jeoulosy?

jean satignan, caen, france

It should also be pointed out that toilet paper sheet size in Germany is of greater area than in Britian or the US.
Germans use A6 size which is 148 by 105 mm.
The British standard is 124 by 110 mm.
And in the US sizes vary from 114 by 114 mm down to 114 by 108 mm.
Here in Israel we are really deprived; the sheets are only 112 by 98 mm.
So if the average number of sheets is the same then the Germans use more toilet paper relatively than is apparent from the above statistics.

KMS, Beer Sheva, Israel

Ze Germanz have vonce again proven to us mere mortals that even their BOWLES are superior to everyone else.

kambiz shahri, Pretoria, South Africa

Why should we "save the trees"? Toilet paper is made from recycled paper and/or pulp wood from trees grown for papermaking, like any other crop.

Reduce the demand, and it means more paper goes to the landfill, or is burned as waste, and land that would be used for growing pulp wood is used for some other crop, most likely one that uses far more water, fertilizer and energy to grow and that provides little if any shelter for wildlife.

Earnan, Luddia, Backofbeyond

I wonder what we do with the odd 0.6 of a sheet, but then, the paper rarely tears properly.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

agree with asri. you will also save the trees

n ahmad, penang, malaysia

That's why you should wash with water. Cleaner and the water is recyclable and environment-friendly

asri, h, malaysia

Ah, finally a balanced article from Roger Boyes on a subject that the Times correspondent in Berlin appears to know at first hand. Well done! But no sticky fingers, I hope, after this in-depth reporting, eh?

M, Warsaw,

During WWII, the ration for British soldiers was 6 SHEETS per day.

David Null, Emertus Professor, California State Polytechnic U, CA, USA