Paper towels. We have become way too dependant on them, and really for no good reason. (Convenience???) We have not bought any for our household in months. In fact, I can't remember the last time we bought a roll. We use Skoy Cloths (
http://www.skoycloth.com/) for wiping around the bathroom and kitchen, cloth napkins, and old socks or t-shirts for bigger jobs. For those messes we really do not want to touch, we have a seemingly endless supply of paper napkins that have come to us through take-out. (We tell them not to send them or include them, but apparently it's just too automatic on their part. We use them sparingly, so we have plenty on hand when the cat has a small mess.)
Back in my paper-towel-using days, before I knew better, I used to love Viva Paper Towels, by none other than our friends at Kleenex, from Kimberly Clark. So soft, so absorbent... a little pricey, but when I felt extravagent I would treat myself to them. So, I really had to laugh when I saw their ad in the coupon section this weekend. They fly the line, "We made the packaging more attractive." (You know, the part you immediately throw away?) Then they say, "Then we made it easier to take off." (You know, because you immediately throw it away.) Yes, their new advertising, their claim to fame, their raison d'etre is that you can get into the package quickly and easily. THIS is why you MUST buy THESE paper towels. This is all they got? Really? This is the best reason they can come up with to get you to buy these? I'm thinkin' that's pretty thin logic.
Here are some reasons to NOT buy ANY paper towels:
"[Paper toweles result] in 254 million tons of trash every year. Once used, paper towels cannot be recycled. As many as 51,000 trees per day are required to replace the number of paper towels that are discarded every day.
"Other facts you need to know about paper towels include:
- 40% of U.S. landfill trash is paper products.
- The paper industry is the third largest contributor to [climate change].
- The average American discards of 700 pounds or more of paper each year.
- If every household in the U.S. used just one less 70-sheet roll of virgin fiber paper towels, that would save 544,000 trees each year. Change that to using three less rolls per U.S. household per year, and that would save 120,000 tons of waste and $4.1 million in landfill dumping fees.
- Your typical paper towel is manufactured using chlorine, which releases carcinogenic dioxins and furans."
(source:
http://1800recycling.com/2009/10/going-paper-towel-less/)
Viva paper towels are surely from virgin fiber. And if the best they can do is make the throw-away part prettier and better (distraction), I'm thinkin' we can skip these altogether. I'm not saying you need to cut all paper towels out of your life completely (though you could try), but it'd be a great step if everyone could cut back a few rolls. 3 less rolls a year? Surely that's doable. We've just become way too accustomed to automatically reaching for the roll. There are so many other reusable things to use. Money is saved. This is a good green fix, and a pretty easy one at that... why not go for it?
Oh - and pass on the knowledge!
oh we slowly made the transition- it was tricky. from paper towel made with recycled fiber, to keeping ONE roll (since it was expensive- the recycled kind that is) and using cloths for mostly everything...
ReplyDeleteand when our last roll ran out, we just never bought anymore.
only time I miss it is when we make bacon... which we don't do often. :)
excellent article!
Never had given second thought to using paper towels, just using them excessively. I would be all for using cloth towels and cut up old socks and tshirts as rags, but then what about the bacon? lol And we like to make bacon every other week or so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, quick question for ya. I recently came home from a trip to Savers to find the plastic bag they put my merchandise in said "This bag will shred into tiny pieces when exposed to oxygen and sunlight"? This sounded great when thinking about the landfill it would eventually end up in, but why aren't more chain stores using these types of plastic bags???
Bacon is a good exception. We are also bacon-eaters in the Green Witch household. We'll use those rare napkins, or if you keep a roll around for that, you have still cut way back! If you really want to get radical, you can dedicate a cloth to your bacon habit, and simply wash it in baking soda and water in the sink and never worry about it!
ReplyDeleteRe: the bags... that's all well and good in theory, but in reality, something that makes it to a landfill will never see sunlight again. Oxygen would be a luxury. Those bags would be buried before they had a chance to think about shredding. Besides, I have to shudder to think what chemicals are still in them and leaching into the Earth.... Point is, they aren't really very helpful. People not as conscientious as you will simply use those to excess.
Yeah my thought was along the lines of what kind of chemicals do they put in the plastics to make those bags shred when exsposed to sunlight & oxygen? Because the bag sat in my bedroom with artificial light shining on it and nothing. So there must be a chemical of some sort that causes the reaction when oxygen & UV rays mix. I don't know. But even if they bags do shred, the garbage inside of them is still there.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't bought paper towels in at least 7 years and we do just fine, bacon cooking included. Just cook it in the ove, way less mess, plus it is easier. (:
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