Celebrating B Corp month

March always comes as a bit of a relief. Along with the longer days and the welcome signs of spring, there’s a sense of a fresh start in the air. We think that should extend to the bathroom, too. 

If you’re already a fan of our bleach free toilet paper, you’ll know we do things a bit differently at Naked Paper. But March is B Corp month, which is the perfect time to talk about why we do things differently.

Naked Paper is a proud B Corp with a score of 148.1, which places us among the top-scorers of the 2,700 B Corps in the UK. But what does it actually mean to be one, and how much store should you set by a score?

What does it mean if a company is a B Corp?

In short, a B Corp is a business that meets high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. This is embodied in the B Corp "Statement of Interdependence," which all B Corps must sign:

“We must be the change we seek in this world. All business ought to be conducted as if people and place matter. Through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.”

For us, this means every decision – from sourcing our bamboo and recycled materials to protecting the river water we borrow to make our tissue – should benefit the people and places involved.

Essentially, Naked Paper should be a force for good. 

This belief is part of our DNA, written into our "articles of association"; the publicly available constitution that governs how we must conduct ourselves. We are legally committed not only to our members and employees but also to having a “material positive impact on society and the environment.” It’s a binding requirement, and we take it seriously.

How hard is it to become B Corp certified?

Companies that want to join the B Corp community apply to be assessed by a global non-profit called B Lab. Their experts take a long, hard look at the fundamentals of your business to see if you’re meeting, or exceeding, their standards.

The bar is particularly high for companies that actually make things. It’s more simple to keep your emissions low and manage your waste if you’re strictly an office-based business, like a law firm or a marketing agency. But for those of us manufacturing and transporting products like toilet paper, there’s a lot more to think about.

It’s why we’re so proud that our factory is a B Corp in its own right. In fact, they were the first tissue factory in the world to get the certification. In 2024, they saw their own score leap from 99.4 to 123. This is a testament to the team over there, who have developed ways to dry paper without fossil fuels, and ensure every worker is paid at least a living wage.

At Naked Paper, we keep the bar high. We make sure our delivery routes are optimal for reducing our emissions, we develop new products that make the best use of recycled raw materials, and we donate unused stock to food banks across the UK.

Our hard work has been reflected in great scores from the very start. In 2021, we became a B Corp with a score of 129.1 – the highest for any UK toilet paper. In fact, that would still be the highest score in the industry today, were it not for the fact that we recertified in 2025 with an even higher score of 148.1.

How to become B Corp certified

If you’re a business owner thinking about taking the plunge, our biggest piece of advice is this: don’t treat it like an exam.

It’s not a matter of doing a bit of coursework and revising for a test; the test itself isn’t the point. Your score should reflect the work you do every day to bring positive change to your corner of the world.

While you can become a B Corp with a passing score of 80, we’ve aimed much higher because we have clear objectives. We set out to:

• Be different: Being the first eco toilet paper in the UK to ditch the bleach meant fewer chemicals being manufactured and transported, and lower emissions overall.

• Be transparent: We keep our green credentials updated on our website all year round, so anyone can see the full details of how we make Naked Paper, not just the assessors.

• Be ambitious: We look at every detail of what we're doing, from raw materials, to transport, to our ingredients – and don’t limit ourselves.

B Corp has actually recently changed its rules, moving away from points-based scores and making the distinction more binary; you’re either a B Corp or you’re not. The criteria you’ll need to meet to get that title will be getting more strict. 

As high scorers, we’re curious to see how this shakes out. Greenwashing is an unfortunate fixture of the business landscape, so credible, independent bodies that can offer independent audits have an important role to play. But no set of criteria is infallible, and finding ways to stay current as companies seek to "game the system" is a challenge we don't envy B Lab. 

We’ll be following the changes with interest, always steered by our own compass when it comes to the standards we uphold.

Raising the standards in a changing environment

As we take stock this B Corp month, we just don’t want Naked Paper to be a sign of changes to better ways of manufacturing on the horizon. We want to be this change, showing that higher standards for our people and our planet really are happening, right now.

We're proud of our high score from B Corp, our Kings Award, and our "best buy" status from Ethical Consumer. And at the end of the day, the most important measure of our impact isn’t a number or a badge It’s the little changes happening in houses and workplaces up and down the country every day. Naked Paper customers are helping us roll forward with every sheet of soft, beige tissue.

Want to join the bleach-free party?