I didn't wastefully use paper towels before quitting them three week ago, so why even stop sopping up our messes with them? In an effort to Live with Less, even in the kitchen, I wanted to challenge myself to find alternatives that weren't a single-use product and reclaim what counter space our paper towel stand took up.
I know what you're going to ask...what about paper towels made of recycled paper, like Marcal? That's the brand I've used and touted for years, but I still can't help but think...
Even if paper towels are made from recycled content, the fact that they are a single use product is just wasteful. No matter how "green" the company is that produces them, paper towels are manufactured at energy and water-intensive mills and often from virgin tree pulp. Choosing not to use them is a prudent way to not engage in that wasteful cycle.
Interested in how to kick your paper towel habit? Read on for 10 ways to get started:
- Dry your hands with cloth, not paper.
- Do you use them as napkins? Cloth beats paper: cloth napkins are fancier, more colorful and way more fun to use! You can get several uses out of each one, but remember to keep track of whose napkin is whose.
- Wipe dishes with a sponge, then wash.
- Clean windows with newspapers.
- Wipe counters with super absorbent bar towels. I keep a stack of them in the kitchen. They are great workhorses and soak up tons!
- Spilled milk? Grab another super absorbent bar towel from your drawer and wipe away. I like to keep a towel in the kitchen for floor spills, just in case.
- Do you feed your cat canned food? We do and washing his food bowls and the food can with a paper towel was the hardest habit to break. Now I'm keeping an extra sponge under the counter for such chores. Once I made the switch, it wasn't that hard!
- Frying bacon? Using paper towels is a popular way to soak-up the grease and clean the pan. Instead, grab a super-absorbant cloth towel and use that then wipe the pan with a sponge.
- But you usually clean your tile floor with paper towels? Forget it, drop the habit and move on. Worn out t-shirts are a great solution or (once again) bar mop towels.
- Got a mess that you'd rather not use a kitchen towel to clean? It happens from time to time. Still, you don't have to fall off the wagon. Instead, prepare in advance for situations like this. Purchase a few extra bar mop towels (super cheap, by the way), grab an old sponge and store them in a bucket where they can easily be washed post clean-up with warm water, soap and a disinfectant like Shaklee's Basic-G Germicide. Don't forget to wear gloves!
If you're afraid of putting such cleaning rags in your washer for fear of wasting water, be assured that you're using no more water than what's wasted when paper towels are being manufactured. Toss in the dirty stuff once a week with other towels and you'll be just fine!
Tell us! What are your favorite ways to kick the habit?
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I'm a 90% cloth/10% paper towel girl. The hardest part for me was the growing stack of "dirty" rags & towels and concerns over pest control - my laundry hamper is in my bedroom, and I didn't want to bring food particles into the living spaces in worry of enticing critters. I mounted a reusable canvas grocery bag onto the back door - it allows me me to pre-dry the towels and rags in the sink, and get them out of the way quickly so I'm not overusing the towels and spreading germs & bacteria. Also - if they go into the bag slightly damp - I know they'll eventually air dry, as opposed to going moldy (had past issues with that when my dirty rag basket was under the sink.)
I kicked my paper towel habit by simply not buying more when we ran out. That'll teach a person in a hurry!! :)
Now, to kick my husbands habit of complaining about a lack of paper towels... sigh.
I think it's ok to keep some paper towels for (at least) just getting grease out of pans. Animal fat down the drain (even in your washing machine) is bad bad news for your drains and your local sewerage system.
@Christina, Same here! Haha, I find that when I don't have them on hand, I barely miss them... until I wanna microwave some bacon. But I'll adjust! It's worth it (for both the environment and my wallet!)!
I currently have one roll of paper towels at home that I use just for emergencies--generally of the dog kind. I also sometimes throw a sheet of the paper towel in with my greens to absorb some of the moisture in the fridge. But I have a feeling that roll will last a LONG time.
We're paper towel and napkin free, except for bacon and cleaning up dog accidents. I'm not ready to give them up for those!
Animal accidents are paper towel time for me too I'm afraid - now I'm wondering if I could just use rags or ancient bar towels and toss them - is that worse or better?
We use microfiber towels to clean up counters, tables,etc. With 2 small kiddos and both of us working full time I am not sure I want to create even more laundry but I am inspired to go out and get some bar towels to give it a try. Thanks for the idea!
Catherine Mohr gave a great talk about embodied energy using the paper towel, sponge, cloth debate to illustrate her point. "Sometimes the things that you least expect have a bigger effect than all those other things you were trying to optimize."
for draining bacon, there is just no subsitute. I don't want to wash "bacon cloth" with the rest of my clothes :S
Otherwise, i'm 100% with you :)
Lovely post!!
Allow me to comment as someone who took classes in santizing and sterilizing.
1. Ditch the sponge. They fall apart fast and are filled with bacteria.
2. Use a handled scrub brush instead. They are wonderful. You can scrub leftover food or even cat food into the trash. No waste, and the bristles are much easier to sanitize than a nasty sponge.
3. Only use newspaper if it can still be recycled after, or else it then turns into trash.
Anyone have any ideas of how to do this at work? We are pushing for a paper towel free work place, but haven't hit upon the perfect solution yet...
@bagelpower it depends on your workplace (do you have a washing machine?) but just do it exactly the way people do it at home - maybe one person per week can volunteer to bring home the dish cloths / bar towels and wash them along with any uniforms the company uses - with incentives, of course. Or have a contest to see who can think up the most eco friendly ideas. Make it fun. :)
In addition to it being generally gross/bad for your drains to use towels to sop up frying grease, unless you have the most super awesome washing machine in the world you can't put that towel in the dryer with the rest of the load after that, since the grease can catch fire. (Maybe this is just because I live in an apartment with really bad machines, but still). If you don't want to keep a roll of paper towels around for specific situations like this, you can drain fried foods on paper bags/newspaper. To me, at least, this is just a disposable item task. It happens sometimes.
I too use paper towels for cat vomit. I don't want that rag floating around in my laundry.
Finally, re: #7 (about cat food bowls): If you're feeding your cat something so unfit for human consumption that you can't wash their dishes in the same way you wash your own, you might want to rethink what you're feeding your cat.
I use one paper towel or a paper bag on top of a stack of newspaper for draining bacon. This is the only time I use paper towels. Otherwise, I use newspaper for cleaning windows and old rags for everything else.
This is great! I keep telling myself that I need to put my money where my mouth is and give up paper towels, but... the piles of cat vomit make me reconsider.
I've also found this article on rethinking disposability to be food for thought.
RE: bacon grease... we have a tiny little zip-loc portion cup from way back when I was a plasti-holic. We pour the grease in, then stash it in the freezer for a few hours. When it's frozen solid, a thwack! on the counter releases a little chunk of solid grease that we toss in the trash.
We don't ever use paper towels. I really just don't see the point of them. We have dish cloths that we knit/sew ourselves that last forever and we use dish towels for drying up dishes or wet hands.
Really, if you don't have paper towels around, you can't use them. The best way to stop is to just stop buying them.
I don't fry bacon and my dog is well past having accidents. . . as for the occasional cat spew, that's what toilet paper or the dog (ew gross) is for.
I've definitely switched to using mostly old washcloths and kitchen towels that have reached their ratty stage for cleaning most things, but there are a few things that I still use paper towels for (and I buy the chlorine-free, recycled paper towels). We foster dogs and "accidents" are an unfortunate part of life. I just can't bring myself to regularly be washing pee-soaked rags in the washer.
Bacon grease will come up quite easily if you pour a good amount of baking soda on it. (This is one of the many household reasons I keep a huge box of it under my sink.) Allow the powder to absorb the grease awhile, then scrape it all into the trash can. Been doing this for years.
I'm in the bacon/animal accidents camp. Otherwise I use a nice knitted cotton washcloth for wiping the countertops and a scrub brush for the dishes. Those washcloths last forever I swear. I like to throw it sopping wet in the microwave to sterilize it (and also help clean the baked on microwave gunk). Easy as pie.
I will use something already in the trash to scoop out the bacon grease from the pan. Like a piece of cardboard from a cereal box, frozen dinner,etc or anything else handy. I am with most everyone else--i have 2 uses for papertowels--cleaning up after the dog and for bacon, sausage, etc. A roll lasts a long time for me.
I havent bought paper towels in probably 5 years... I got a ton of microfibre cloths at the dollar store, and use them for EVERYTHING. I try to use crumpled newspaper in place of paper towels if absoloutly necessary... oh and sham wows ROCK.
you could just wait until the pan gets cold enough and then give it to the dog - it'll be 'clean' in a jiffy