The Quad City Times reports that a northwest Iowa man is the first person to face a price-gouging lawsuit after the Iowa Attorney General’s Office received complaints he was selling a 12-count package of toilet paper for $86 on eBay. The lawsuit, which carries a penalty of up to $40,000 under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, alleges that the person was also was selling a 12-ounce can of Lysol on eBay for $65.99 and a six-count pack of Bounty paper towels for $49.99.

According to Channel News Asia, Afghan toilet paper entrepreneur Zuhal Atmar overcame patriarchy and security threats to build a business that was set to go global due to a COVID-19-induced shortage. But then, the supply of her key raw material - trash - dried up. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a lockdown in Kabul, forcing scavengers off the streets and slashing access to the waste paper and cardboard which Atmar recycles into pink-and-white bathroom tissue rolls.

Yahoo Finance reports that the demand for toilet paper in Canada has skyrocketed — increasing by 241 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Derek Nighbor, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, revealed the eye-popping increase in late April in testimony to the House of Commons finance committee. He told the committee that the forest products industry has rarely enjoyed such a high profile.

China’s Baoding Zhenghao Paper has fired up a new 19,000-mtpy tissue machine at its sole mill in Mancheng county, Hebei province. The first sheet of tissue rolled off the line in late April. Provided by local supplier Baoding Weituo Machinery, the machine has a width of 3.5 m and a design speed of 1,000 m/min. The mill operates two other tissue units from the same supplier. They have a combined capacity of 37,000 mtpy.

The Greenfield Recorder reports that Charles Housen, a three-decade CEO of Erving Industries, died April 4 in his home in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He was 87 years old. Housen was known primarily for leading Erving Industries through a long period of prosperity. The paper company had been in the Housen family since 1927. At that time, Charles’ uncle, Morris, had been working for Holyoke Savings Bank, and was asked to take a leadership role in a young company called Erving Mills, which had been bought by a group of investors in 1916. Morris and his brother, David — Housen’s father — took ownership of the company soon after.