YouTuber criticised for using '100,000 rolls of paper towels' to soak up a pool

A YouTuber is facing backlash after using thousands of rolls of paper towels in an experiment to see whether he could soak up the water in a pool.

Last week, Tyler Oliveira, a YouTuber with more than 587,000 subscribers, uploaded a new video titled: “Can 1,000,000 Paper Towels Absorb A Swimming Pool?”

According to Oliveira, he originally came up with the idea after going viral for a TikTok in which he attempted to soak up a glass of water he’d “accidentally” spilled in his swimming pool.

“Little did I know, the rest of the world shared my curiosity, and I’d sparked a question across the nation,” he explained in the beginning of the video, before telling viewers that he then ordered “100,000 paper towels to my home” to see if he could come up with an answer.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 149,000 times, Oliveira proceeds to throw entire rolls of paper towels into his swimming pool.

“We’re destroying these paper towel rolls right now,” he says at one point. “We’re still barely making a dent into this moist swimming pool.”

Oliveira eventually comes to the understanding that it would take more than 1,000,000 paper towels to soak up his pool. He attempts to get rid of the ruined rolls of paper towel by throwing them into a garbage can that he then tries to blow up.

In response to the waste displayed in the video, Oliveira’s followers have criticised him for the stunt.

“Talk about pollution and waste,” one person wrote on YouTube.

Another commented: “I can’t believe how many trees he wasted.”

Following the backlash, Oliveira responded to the criticism in the comments, where he defended himself on the basis that “these paper towels existed independently of whether or not I would have used them.”

“These paper towels existed and would have been used at some point in the foreseeable future,” he said, adding: “But yes, perhaps, I had a micro impact on the demand of paper towels throughout the entire paper towel industry. Who knows.”

The YouTuber concluded the comment acknowledging that he understands where the criticism is coming from and that he “may not have considered it’s net consequence on the Earth,” but that those criticising him “failed to reflect on their own respective impact, and are just as guilty.''

In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency found that the US generated about 7.4bn pounds of waste consisting of paper towels and other tissue materials.

Despite many paper towel brands being made from recyclable materials, a 2011 study found that paper towels can generate as much as 70 per cent more emissions than hand-dryers.

The Independent has contacted Oliveira for comment.

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