{
  "id": 3304262,
  "title": "Forget bamboo. This startup wants the next toilet paper to be made from rice straw",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/forget-bamboo-this-startup-wants-the-next-toilet-paper-to-be-made",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-25T16:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91594365/paddy-toilet-paper-made-from-rice-straw"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Forget bamboo, a startup called Paddy Paper is eyeing rice straw as the next big thing in toilet paper production. The idea struck when cofounder Matt Dye noticed a surge in air pollution during a trip to Bangkok in 2022. He discovered that the smoke from farms burning rice straw was contributing significantly to the city's smog. Globally, over 450 million metric tons of rice straw is burned annually, resulting in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Dye, who was working at a biomaterials startup at the time, wondered if there was a way to use this waste product for a useful purpose.\n\nThe biggest opportunity he saw was turning rice straw into toilet paper, addressing two environmental issues at once. While most toilet paper is currently made from wood pulp, which involves cutting down trees, Paddy Paper aims to use rice straw instead. Other alternatives like bamboo are also being explored, but growing more bamboo could potentially displace forests or farmland.\n\nThe founders teamed up with a Thai company producing takeout boxes from rice straw, adapting the process for toilet paper and paper towels. Rice straw fibers are stiffer than wood pulp, requiring a modified pulp and tissue-making process. After several trials and adjustments, the startup successfully produced a sample product. The paper towels, undyed and slightly rougher than expected, are cheaper than bamboo alternatives. The toilet paper, currently in a limited launch, starts at $14.99 for a box of 12 rolls. The founders plan to use customer feedback to improve the products and believes that rice straw, being the third most produced crop globally, could potentially replace trees in toilet paper production entirely.",
  "summary": "Over the past decade, bamboo toilet paper started to go mainstream as an alternative to turning trees into something we flush down the drain . A startup called Paddy Paper now wants to use a more unusual alternative material: rice straw, a byproduct of rice farming. The project started on a trip to Bangkok in 2022, when cofounder Matt Dye was struck by the high levels of air pollution. He learned…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}