This Online Toilet Paper Calculator Will Tell You How Long Your Supply Will Last |cnn

(CNN) -- As households continue to stock up on toilet paper — emptying shelves across the country — a new website attempts to answer the question: How much paper do we really need?

Howmuchtoiletpaper.com is a website created by student software developer Ben Sassoon and artist Sam Harris, both based in London, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.The tool estimates how long your paper supply will last during a quarantine.

The idea came to them, of course, while talking about how much toilet paper they used and how that would change during the pandemic.

This is how this website was born.

The operation is simple.Users enter how many rolls of toilet paper they have and how many times they visit the bathroom.

If you scroll to the "Advanced Options" section you can get details by customizing the average number of wipes per trip, the number of sheets per wipe, sheets on the roll, and people in the house.

More than 2 million people have used the tool, the website claims, and the average user has a whopping 500% more toilet paper than they need for quarantine.

The main goal of the tool is to reduce the global toilet paper shortage, which has begun as people panic over fears of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

"Not everyone can walk into a store and stock up on toilet paper. Don't be selfish," the website states bluntly.

The sudden high demand for toilet paper has resulted in the industry working hard to meet the need, said the American Forest and Paper Association, an industry group that represents paper products manufacturers.

Last week, some retail orders nearly doubled, said Georgia Pacific, which makes Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper.The company shipped 20% more than its normal capacity.

Meanwhile, retailers in the United States and Canada have begun limiting the number of packages of toilet paper customers can purchase in a single trip.

CNN's Parija Kavilanz contributed to this report.coronavirus