What Brand Name Is Behind Costco's Kirkland Paper Towels? Here's What We Know

Costco's private label, Kirkland Signature, offers budget-friendly dupes of numerous name-brand products, from granola bars to laundry detergent. In many cases, these items are made in big brands' factories but sold in Kirkland wrappers. The warehouse store seldom discloses whose products they're repackaging, though its execs have confirmed that the tuna is Bumble Bee and the batteries are Duracell. Nevertheless, shoppers love to share theories about Kirkland products' origins — remarking, for example, how the vodka tastes just like Bacardi's Grey Goose.

Consumers are especially curious about where Costco's Kirkland toilet paper is made, as well as its economy-priced paper towels. That's because many paper-goods manufacturers harm the environment through water pollution, forest degradation, and other unsustainable practices. Wood pulp from just-harvested trees — the main ingredient in most American paper towels, facial tissues, and toilet paper — tends to come from Canada's boreal forest. In addition to supporting biodiversity, this region stores even more carbon than the Amazon rainforest, helping to mitigate climate change. Since Kirkland paper towels contain this type of pulp, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) named them one of the least sustainable options on the market in a 2023 report on tissue products and forest degradation.

Though Costco hasn't stated which manufacturers are behind Kirkland paper towels, industry insiders suspect that Clearwater Paper Corporation is involved. It's a major supplier of private-label paper towels for U.S. supermarkets, and like Costco, it's headquartered in Washington. But this isn't the whole story. Though Clearwater spent years making super-fluffy paper towels that resemble not-so-sustainable Brawny and Bounty products, it recently exited the paper towel game. This may signal changes ahead.

In 2022, Costco launched a climate action plan that includes "regenerative and deforestation-free agriculture." Kirkland premium paper towels now bear the stamp of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which brings together scientists, foresters, and conservationists. These changes haven't impressed the NRDC, whose yearly sustainability report cards assign low grades to brands that source most of their pulp from forests. Kirkland wasn't the only brand with a dismal grade in 2023. Brawny, Bounty, Sparkle, and Scott all received failing marks. Even if these brands replant what they raze, the new trees won't absorb nearly as much carbon as mature trees.

Some companies are leaving the paper-towel trade as consumers demand more sustainable products. In late 2024, Clearwater sold its tissue business to Sofidel America and announced plans to focus on paperboard instead. This could force a different brand of paper towels into Kirkland packaging. The companies behind Brawny, Bounty, and Scott — Georgia-Pacific, Procter & Gamble, and Kimberly-Clark, respectively — are well-equipped to produce paper towels for Costco. Whether they'd do so using better materials is uncertain. To keep offering paper towels at a must-have price, Costco might choose a product that's even less sustainable. 

No matter what Costco decides, you can choose paper towels known for their sustainable sourcing. Brands with top grades from the NRDC include Natural Value, Green Forest, and Trader Joe's. Want something you can buy at Costco? Consider Marcal 100% recycled paper towels, which received an A, or Caboo bamboo paper towels, which are free of wood pulp. Or try a cost-effective paper-towel alternative such as Costco's stylish Swedish dishcloths.