Make the Switch, It's Easy!

More often than not, I stumble across a product that just makes me see red. But then again, you knew that about me already. Imagine my delight when I ran across something that made me happy!

We already use VERY few paper towels, very very few, but with this product, we never have to use a tree-paper towel again! Bambooee. I'm still checking in with them with a few more questions, but so far I like what I see. Bamboo is almost as good in my book as hemp! So why not make these out of bamboo? According to their site, you can wash them around 25 times before they need to go away. Yes. You can throw them in your washer. I'm just bummed I didn't see them at an expo I attended  where they apparently were one of the best new products.

They've ingeniously made them so that you can make the switch with minimal fuss. It's almost... convenient! They put these towels in a roll so you can put them on your existing paper towel holder (something I don't even have, come to think of it). I can't think of a down side.

I am curious as to if the spent sheet is compostable. I'm sure it has to be biodegradable. I wonder what process it takes to make the bamboo into sheets. Are there many chemicals involved? I have an inquiry out to the company, so when I hear, so will you! I have my PeopleTowel in my purse so I don't use paper towels in public restrooms, and now we can completely avoid paper towels in the kitchen.

Of course, I have to think people will find a downside and say it's too much to wash them, what a bother, not convenient to throw them in the wash, or they cost too much, and won't take into account the money they AREN'T spending on paper towels... but as wise people always say, ya can't fix stupid.

Meanwhile, I will await the reply from the company and hope that I am not disappointed in any of their answers. I'll give them a positive for now.

PeopleTowels: Small Act, Big Impact

The Natural Products Expo West was a few weeks ago, and I combed the aisles for 3 days looking for great products about which to tell you. I was not disappointed. 


The most exciting gem was SO great that I was impatient to write! Was it Mary Wallace, co-founder of PeopleTowels, that I just plain grooved with because she was so cool? Well, that was part of it. I mean, I already don't personally use very many paper towels at all. But of course, anything that helps and that I can get the word out on, I'm going to love. Here's what their site, http://www.peopletowels.com, has to say:

"The use of disposable paper towels has a huge impact on the environment by contributing to deforestation, water pollution and global warming. Some of the facts about paper towel consumption and the environmental impact are:

• To make one ton of paper towels, 17 trees are cut down and 20,000 gallons of water are consumed. 
• Every day, over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the US alone. 
• Decomposing paper towels produce methane gas, a leading cause of global warming. 
• Paper was the largest contributor to municipal landfill waste in 2006. 
• The average person uses 2,400 – 3,000 paper towels at work, in a given year."

I love love love this product. How many times do I go into public restrooms and just shake my head at the overflowing trash bins, the mess of wet paper towels everywhere... the way they smell, the thought of the trees and processing and bleaching that has gone into them, and how this is just one restroom on one floor of one building in one town in one state... on and on. (Psst.. it's lots of times.) It's staggering. (Welcome to my brain.)  If we were carrying around PeopleTowels instead, this would not be plaguing my brain. Help my brain. 

From their information: If 1 in 4 adults used PeopleTowels for a year instead of paper towels, and we're just talking in public restrooms here, we would save enough trees to cover the state of Alaska. We would save enough water to FILL 22,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. And then, think about the landfill space saved and the resources not being used to make the paper towels. 

Now you see why I love love love this product? I bought a few. They are SO cute, too! Mine rolls up nice and small in my purse. You can clip them on you messenger bag or your backpack. This is an amazingly easy new eco-habit to adopt. In fact it is easier than remembering bags or carrying a water bottle, because they are so light and easy. 

So, thank you Linda, thank you Mary, I was so happy to meet you and to learn about your product. Thank you Expo, for having these PeopleTowels there. I think they cannot catch on soon enough. Order them online or find them at stores listed on their site. Give them as gifts. They are so cute and fun, and if you have a business, you can get your logo on them too. Good Green Witch PeopleTowels? Oh you bet your bippy those are coming. 

Let's get these things to catch on. It's such an easy habit-change to make. We can do this.

That's all they got?

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!