why do we chop down trees to wipe our bottoms?

Cleaned up version of a post that was moderated...

I was shopping last night in my local Woolworths. I usually buy recycled loo roll. I noticed that there was far less recycled and environmentally friendlier (I say "friendlier" because nothing is environmentally perfect) toilet roll available as there usually is. And then I got to thinking - can someone please tell me why we have to chop down trees in order to wipe our bottoms? Why don't we as consumers demand recycled toilet paper? Why not? Its used for wiping our bottoms and then it is discarded. Why should we chop down environmentally friendly carbon reservoirs so we can wipe with 'new' fancy paper rather than with 'old' recycled paper?

Taking another angle, if you only had recycled paper available, you would still buy it, would you not? Will the carbon tax include loo roll? I am semi-serious here. I understand discarded loo roll is oxidised and/or bio-degraded in sewerage creating CO2 and/or methane emissions (see stats below)? Maybe the carbon tax can be extended to include this? Why not? Yes this is a little tongue in cheek, but I am trying to promote discussion here. Why should the majestic tree be chopped down so we can wipe our bottoms with it???

Yes I submitted feedback to Woolworths. I also Googled the subject and it looks like there was a (failed?) campaign called www.wipeitout.com.au. Here is the cached version of the web site...

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ko6i7UGtrb0J:www.wipeitout.com.au/+toilet+paper,+trees,+recycled&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com.au

Here are some stats from the cached web site:

"* 95% Australian's buy non recycled toilet paper.
* 270,000 trees a day cut down purely for toilet paper only around the world that's 200 trees a minute. 98 million a year.
* Every time a tonne of recycled toilet paper is made vs. non recycled, 31,000 litres of water and 400kg of greenhouse gases are saved."