Toilet Paper Insider Tells OutKick: I Know Why Costco's Kirkland Toilet Paper Is So Dusty
Why is Costco's Kirkland toilet paper so dusty to the point where my wife (Mrs. Screencaps) declared over the weekend that she will no longer allow Kirkland Bath Tissue into our house?
That's the investigation I've decided to tackle over the next month or so as we look for answers into this question that is starting to percolate through pop culture.
Why is our bathroom so dusty compared to five years ago? Why is it we open a six-pack of the once incredible Kirkland Signature tp only to have white powder raining down on us like we're in a Miami strip club.
EMAIL: JOE.KINSEY@OUTKICK.COM
Hours after presenting these question to America, while also noting that I'm #NotSponsored by a toilet paper brand and that I WILL NOT be bought off by Big Toilet Paper, a purported toilet paper insider stepped forward to offer insight on what's going on with the industry and why it's so dusty.
(Why is Kirkland Signature toilet paper so dusty? An emailer says the level of dust from KS toilet paper can depend on what region of the country you live in. / via Getty Images)
An emailer who goes by Steve C. in Wisconsin, says he's retired from the "consumer tissue industry" where he worked for 30 years.
"I made many trips to the Costco HQ in Bellevue, WA and am very familiar with the Kirkland Signature (KS) bath tissue business. KS bath tissue was produced for many years exclusively by Georgia-Pacific (GP), who make Northern Ultra bath tissue and Brawny paper towels," Steve tells OutKick.
"Over time, as the KS bath tissue business grew, GP didn’t have enough capacity to support the entire KS business. Costco asked GP to increase their capacity. However, the profit made on selling product to Costco is very low and GP couldn’t justify spending the hundreds of millions $ needed to increase KS production. Those great prices you see aren’t because Costco are such wonderful people (although many of them really are). They play major league hardball with their suppliers to get rock bottom prices - which let’s them keep prices low in their buildings.
"Several years ago, I think around 2020, Costco reached out to other suppliers to produce what GP couldn’t supply. They received bids from several other manufacturers, and I was told a company called First Quality was selected. The tissue-making technology First Quality uses is slightly different than GP. I won’t get into all the hairy details of paper-making, but one of the drawbacks of First Quality’s process is more lint (what Mrs. Screencaps calls dust)."
My wife's solution was to switch to Costco's Charmin Red and see if that solves the issue. Steve C. says there's a more extreme solution.
"There’s no need to switch to Charmin Red. There is another solution to the dust problem in the Kinsey household – move!" Steve adds.
"Costco’s business is split into eight regions in the US (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Texas, Northwest, Northern California, Los Angeles, and San Diego). My latest intel is GP supplies five regions and First Quality the other three. As part of your house-hunting, swing by the local Costco and pick up a pack of KS bath. If there’s still dust, just keep trying other parts of the country until you find the dust-free stuff!"
In a 2024 Reddit thread, Costco shoppers discussed this very topic and Georgia-Pacific was credited with being the superior supplier of Kirkland Signature toilet paper.
Steve could be onto something here. The level of dust in your house via toilet paper just might depend on where you live.
The plot thickens.
We reached out to the Costco marketing division to ask about the dust issue. We're still waiting to hear back.