Top 10 Odd Environmental Ideas

Environmental experts recently called toilet paper "one of the greatest excesses of our age," leading to suggestions that Americans adopt reusable cloth toilet wipes as an environmentally friendly alternative. Gross? Maybe, but it's just one of a slew of slightly offbeat ways to save the environment. Here's a look at 10 of the most odd, along with TIME's assessment of just how crazy they are.

— Dan Fletcher

Reusable Toilet Wipes

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The Problem: America has a ravenous appetite for comfy toilet paper. The softer, the better. But what's good for the tush isn't good for the environment — soft toilet paper doesn't contain any recycled material and is often made from old-growth forests. A waste expert called soft toilet paper "a lot worse than driving a Hummer" in terms of environmental impact.

The Solution: Europeans use toilet paper with a greater proportion of recycled fiber. But for the true eco-warrior, there's an even more environmentally friendly solution — reusable toilet wipes. Made of cloth, reusable wipes offer all the comfort of the triple-ply, ultra-quilted toilet paper roll with none of the nasty tree-killing consequences. Instead, there's only the little matter of storing and washing dozens of waste-covered pieces of cloth. Every week. It's a tough sell, but one manufacturer promises they don't stink and sells wet bags to contain the dirty wipes.

Eco Craziness: 5/5. The cloth wipes are even sold in "funky and fun" combinations. We're willing to bet they're funky, especially after a week in the wet bag. Fun? Not so much.

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