Deeva GREEN’07 is the co-founder of PlantPaper—a tree-free, toxin-free toilet paper company that is branching out (pun intended) into absorptive paper towels this year. Her passion for the environment and entrepreneurial spirit have been apparent ever since her time as Head of the Gaia Club. In the words of her Advisor at Graduation, “In her eight years at Branksome, Deeva has made extraordinary efforts to connect our school community to issues of global importance.”

Today, she’s sharing all about what led her to this particular venture and where she’s hoping to go next.

Can you tell us about your time at Branksome Hall? Is there a memory or a particular teacher or class or club that you think impacted your path after high school?

When I think of my time at Branksome, starting in Grade 5 through to Graduation, the overall feeling is one of gratitude and warmth. Teachers like Mrs. Kalyanam, Mr. Douglas, Ms. Campbell-Rogers, Mr. Beatty and Ms. Wynne-Jones stand out in these memories. They struck such a perfect balance between pushing us academically and encouraging us to seek support when needed. They showed us how good it feels to work hard and grow.

I’d say my fondest memories are just that. Whether it was the exhilaration of standing in front of a class (and later on a full Assembly) or speaking to my peers and the hard work that went along with that. Or a test in Grade 5 to see how many countries and their capitals we knew. Eventually, Debate competitions after school. These uncomfortable situations have helped me later in life to recognize the joy in working hard and then getting to see the results!

We’d love to hear more about your path after Branksome Hall. What led you to found PlantPaper? 

For the past seven years, I’ve been involved in the creation of PlantPaper, a tree-free, toxin-free toilet paper company. During my time at Branksome, I sure didn’t think that I’d be spending my thirties thinking about toilet paper all day, but I did know that I wanted to do something good for our planet (after all, I was head of the Gaia Club and later Community Service Prefect).

After Branksome, I studied Environmental Policy and Economics at the London School of
Economics, then moved to New York City to work at TerraCycle. Eventually, I pursued a Master's in Sustainability Management at Columbia University, where I decided that I wanted to stay in the private sector. My parents were entrepreneurs and always worked together, so starting a business felt like second nature to me… and yes, my husband is my co-founder, so we’re carrying on the family tradition there too.

So why toilet paper?

Toilet paper really isn’t something that any of us like to think much about, but it’s a dirty industry that has been in need of a change for a long time. Most conventional toilet paper actually comes from old-growth trees in the Canadian Boreal Forest (the world’s largest land carbon sink) and trees in the Amazon. It’s bleached and has been found to contain PFAS and other chemicals like formaldehyde and dioxins to make it white and fluffy. Even in small amounts, these are not chemicals that I would want in the bathroom, let alone touching super porous skin! At PlantPaper, we’ve created a product that we feel good about using ourselves. It’s made of FSC-certified bamboo, which is super fast-growing, doesn’t need any inputs to grow, and stores the majority of its carbon in its roots. Our product is also unbleached and doesn’t contain any of the toxic chemicals found in conventional toilet paper.

We are also committed to zero plastic packaging. We now have facial tissue and have launched PlantPaper Towel earlier this year. We’ll be the first bamboo paper towel to use Through Air Drying technology, so it’s thick and absorbent. We’re now in over 90,000 subscriber households in the U.S. and are continuing to grow in Ontario.

What comes next? What are you hoping for from the next part of your path?

I’ve been living in Brooklyn for the past fifteen years with my husband, Lee. We have two little ones (ages three and a half and five and a half). I’m proud to share that they’re attending an IB school here, learning entirely in French. As a parent, I hope to find more ways to incorporate nature in my kids’ lives. I often think of playing in the Woodlot or sleeping at Norval and Outward Bound with my Branksome class.

For myself, I’m hoping to continue to push myself just as my Branksome teachers did—to grow as a person, to continue to grow outside of being an entrepreneur, a wife and a mother. Finding time to continue to develop myself while running the business proves challenging and low priority. But I really believe that everything is doable with good time management, efficiency and discipline—just what Branksome taught me! 

Is there a book (professional or personal) that you’d recommend to other alums?

There are two that I’d recommend: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard.

As a thank you to the Branksome Hall community, Deeva has offered a discount code (BRANKSOME25) for 25% off the first order of a PlantPaper subscription!