"It's not every day you get a roll of toilet paper when walking through Manhattan," said MJ Jolda, senior vice president of marketing for Marcal, the New Jersey-based paper product company that gave away rolls on Tuesday afternoon. It's also not every day you see a two-ton roll of toilet paper in the middle of Times Square, which loomed behind the exec as she spoke.
A manufacturer of recycled paper products such as bath tissue (as the Marcal folks prefer to call it), paper towels, and napkins since 1950, Marcal recently relaunched its line under the new brand name Small Steps, which is an allusion to the idea that consumers can do their part to tackle larger issues like global warming and deforestation by choosing to buy recycled paper products.
In an effort to illustrate this eco-friendly point—and underscore the fact that Marcal is one of the few paper companies to make its products from 100 percent recycled materials—the manufacturer erected what it called an "urban forest" in Times Square's Military Island. The installation featured a staged display of the aforementioned eight-foot high roll of TP—which Marcal claims is the equivalent of an average household's consumption—as well as 34 trees representing the number a family of four could save annually by using recycled paper products.
Marcal also stacked blue recycling bins into a pyramid, and displayed three-and-a-half tons of baled newspapers, junk mail, and catalogs—or the equivalent of paper material Marcal recycles to make a mammoth two-ton roll. Additional elements included placards offering assorted environmental tidbits, audio of singing birds emanating from the grouping of trees, and brand ambassadors handing out Small Steps toilet paper and coupons.
Marcal hired Production Glue to design and produce the event. The firm's Tim McDevitt secured a 24-hour permit for the installation, began load-in at 12:01 a.m., and enlisted a special clamp truck to place the giant roll of toilet paper.
To entice journalists to cover the event, Marcal offered breakfast and lunch at the nearby Marriott Marquis, where the company's C.E.O., Tim Spring, Jolda, and eco-mom blogger Beth Aldrich spoke briefly about Marcal products. Marcal also provided local pick up and drop off, via a Toyota Prius.
Jolda desribed the public's reaction to the Urban Forest as "terrific. There was a lot of discussion on where to have this," she said. "But if your'e going to make a splash, this is where you need to be."
Correction: This story has been changed to properly identify Marcal's new brand name and give the correct height of the toilet paper prop.
