Toilet paper

Are you searching for the perfect stationery for that important document or letter to a loved one? Are you trying to reduce the environmental impact of using ream after ream of wood-based paper? Do you love handling animal poop but hate cleaning up afterwards? If so, you may be in luck. Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper. The center's 40 bamboo-fed pandas produce about 2 tons of droppings a day, which could be cleaned and processed to make products ranging from Christmas cards to toilet paper to James Frey novels.

The thought of wiping your butt with toilet paper made from panda poop might seem kinda gross and self-defeating, but recycling animal waste is hardly a novel idea. Livestock manure has long been used to fertilize fields, for example. Some cultures even collect cow urine due to its high chlorine content for use in washing clothes and people. Personally, however, I try to avoid coming into contact with poo or pee as much as possible. Except for fried cow paddies, of course; them's good eatin'.