Ancient and other endangered forests are being destroyed to make toilet paper, facial tissues, paper towels and other disposable paper products. But you can help halt this destruction by pressuring the tissue products industry to change its practices and by making smart shopping decisions. The green guide provides you with a list of tissue paper products to buy—and a few to avoid. Visit www.nrdc.org/paper for a more extensive product list and send a message to paper giant Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Scott, Cottonelle, Kleenex and Viva, telling the company to stop using virgin wood for throwaway tissue products.

Buy paper products with recycled content—especially post-consumer fibers.

Look for products that have a high recycled content, including high post-consumer content. Post-consumer fibers are recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers and would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill or an incinerator.

Buy paper products made with clean, safe process.

Paper products are bleached to make them whiter and brighter, but chlorine used in many bleaching processes contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish. Look for products labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF).

Tell tissue manufacturers to stop using virgin wood for throwaway products.

If a brand you buy for your home doesn’t have any recycled content, contact the manufacturer. Tell the company to use more recycled fibers, to avoid sourcing from ecologically valuable forests and to ensure any virgin fibers used are certified by the forest Stewardship Council. Saving forests also helps reduce global warming pollution.