By Just Heather | Leave A Comment
A few years ago, we worked, at my daughter’s urging, to reduce our paper waste. As a result, we no longer use paper towels. My dear cousin was shocked to find none when she stayed at our house. My own mother packed a roll when she stayed with my girls for our vacation. Yet, we don’t really miss them at all. (Okay, except when we fry bacon!) Let’s take a quick look at how people use paper towels, and break down some alternative solutions.
Drying hands: This one is so simple, it seems obvious. Keep a hand towel in a convenient location! We keep decorative towels in our bathroom, but in the kitchen people seem to just grab a paper towel. If it helps, spend a few dollars to find something you really like. It will not only spruce up your kitchen a bit, but you can skip the disposable waste in style!
Quick spills: It is all too easy to grab a paper towel or two to clean up small spills. I think the mindset is that there’s no point wasting a towel for something small, but it’s really more wasteful to add to the landfill over a minor spill. Flour sack towels are inexpensive, lightweight and easy to grab for exactly these situations.
Messy faces: If you’ve got kids, you’ve got sticky hands & faces. I know I’ve been guilty in the past of grabbing a wet paper towel to clean them up! Instead, check out these simple homemade baby wipes. 1 cup water, 1/4 cup baby wash, 1 tablespoon baby oil. Mix and pour over baby washcloths (the ones without binding on the edges work best!) for a simple solution to sticky kids.
Cleaning: Spray, wipe, throw it away! It seems so easy, but is it really that much more difficult to spray, wipe and throw it in the wash? An extra load of towels every week or two is a small price to pay for cleaning up the landfills. You can even find dish towels in the dollar stores or discount section of your favorite store. (Keep it even greener by using homemade cleaners!)
Napkins: I’m including this one here because I know a lot of people end up using paper towels when they run out of napkins! Cloth napkins are inexpensive, easy to toss into the nightly wash and make even an ordinary meatloaf feel like a fancy dinner. Again, check the dollar section or holiday clearance for great deals. It took me about a year to build the collection I have now. With a set of napkins in every color, I can add the day’s accumulation to any load of laundry.
It really is a simple process to make a few substitutions, and reduce your paper towel waste. If it all seems overwhelming, just pick one. Start small, keep it simple, and you’ll make a big impact on our landfills.
Photo credits: ClipArt from Microsoft Office Online & Flickr member qmnonic
ABOUT Just Heather
Heather Sokol is a work at home mother of three girls. They have created in her a Montessori Mom, Sc{read more}
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Thanks for this post! Our family ditched paper towels as well as paper napkins about 2 years ago. We haven’t missed them a bit. (except when frying bacon in the microwave!)
We use cloth napkins that I buy on sale. We have folded up flour-sack towels in the kitchen for spills. And a smaller carbon footprint!
Thank you for this post! We have already adopted these into our lifestyle. I love microfiber cloths, they really soak up spills and water. The trick is to buy darker color cloths and hand towels so they don’t show any potential stains. We have several cloth napkins and I just toss them in with our towels, we are never without.
Quick tip with microfiber though, don’t use fabric softener liquid or dryer sheets with them, they won’t absorb as well, I wash with Seventh generation detergent and use a couple tbsp of vinegar in the softner compartment, this actually gets all the dulling residue off from soap, etc and allows your towels to become super absorbant and dry you quickly too. I let my microfiber cloths hang to airdry and then they are ready to use.
Old rags are good for cleaning or spills on floors etc. The thing about paper towels is that they are bleached with chlorine, so not only are use using more trees (paper) but a lot of CO2 emissions go into the air to produce them and chlorine is released into our waterways, not to mention that comes in contact with you and your children-not cool.
I love hanging a pretty hand towl on our oven door. Just because you use cloth instead of paper doesn’t mean things are less hygienic. I make it a point to use a new dish cloth for the sink daily for wiping counters, we have many and they are tiny, so I put them in a plastic pail and then load them up with the towels when needed. This way things stay sanitary, you never have a smelly, mildewy cloth and no germs to worry about.
For cleaning, I find seventh generation to have a lot of wonderful and effective natural cleaning products including their disinfectant spray which is equal to lysol but doesn’t have all the chemicals and toxins that it does. It’s available nearly everywhere now too!
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I gave up paper towels and napkins awhile ago. I like rags better and rarely used them anyway. My favorite for cleaning spills and wiping the counter are Skoy cloths, the are awesome!!! Much better and cheaper than paper towels.
I bought a dozen or so white washcloths for under $5 at Target. I keep them in a pretty basket next to my sink and grab one whenever I need to wipe a spill or dry the counter. When they get too dingy to use in the kitchen, I move them to the “rag” drawer where we use them for more grungy cleaning chores.