Did you know that 40% of trash in U.S. landfills consists of paper and that 30% of the timber consumed in the U.S. is used to make paper products? Reduce your impact by reducing how many paper products you consume at work, at home and at play. Should you find yourself unable to part with paper towels, napkins or paper plates (to name a few), try shopping for products made from post-consumer materials (as high of a percentage as you can find), that are unbleached, or whitened without chlorine. Bleaching paper with chlorine creates dangerous toxins such as dioxins, furans and other organochlorines. Once loose in the environment, these chemicals accumulate in both people and animals. Hundreds of studies have shown a direct link between dioxin exposure and cancer, birth defects and developmental and reproductive disorders. Still not convinced? Consider that One million trees would be saved if every U.S. household replaced just one 250-count package of virgin fiber napkins with 100 percent recycled ones and 544,000 trees would be saved by replacing a 70-sheet roll of virgin fiber paper towels. Reducing your use of paper products is best, but when you gotta do what you gotta do, choose the eco-option. Feeling super sexy? Talk to your office, school, community center or place of worship about switching to unbleached and recycled paper too.