Tip o’ the Day: Break that Paper Towel Habit
Hand towels are common in the bathroom, but when it comes to the kitchen many of us are paper towel-using junkies.
Whether you're drying your hands or cleaning up around the house, cloth towels and dish rags are the way to go. They're efficient at mopping up small spills, and come in handy for just about everything you'd need a paper towel for, and with a lot less waste.
Keep a few dish cloths readily available in the kitchen, even if it means clearing out that junk drawer to make room. Hang one from the refrigerator or oven handle, or from a decorative hook or nail placed by the sink.
Use smaller cloths for dishwashing and cleaning, and larger ones for hand and dish drying. Look for natural materials such as cotton, linen or hemp (organic if possible).
When they get dirty throw 'em in the hamper and wash them with your other household towels. No separate load needed.
Break that paper towel habit. Next time you use up the last one, recycle the cardboard roll give the cloth thing a try.
Amy says: I prefer small cotton dishrags over sponges for dishwashing and cleaning up the kitchen, and since they're washed regularly they don't have time to sit and take on that pungent, spongy smell.
Tags: Conservation, Daily Tips, dish+washing, Environment, Home and Garden, kitchen, paper+towels, towel
- Uncategorized
May 20th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Great Tip. To help with the environment I decided to buy only “recycled” brown paper towels…WOW what an expense. Being “green” is not cheap so I decided I can go chepper, and did your tip of the day before I read it. It is practical, cheap and oh so earth friendly. I have been on a path to live the simpliest lifestyle I can and this tip fitted right in. I have never been more at peace with so much less. I work less, for I need less. Now I live life to the fullest, for my time is my own and not to my paycheck!
June 21st, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Another great tip. But I do have a query…
Which could be considered to have less of an impact on the environment:
1) Using paper-towels made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper, which will then go to our local composting facility, or
2) Reusing cloth rags which need to be washed?
If you use cloth rags made from organic materials, wash them in cold water by hand using an all natural cleaning agent, I would assume the answer is a ‘no-brainer’. But then, I would assume the general population does/would not do this.
The company that makes the paper towels we buy (President’s Choice) suggests that option 1 is better, but then I would expect them to be biased.
Any thoughts?
June 27th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
I’m not an expert, but I now use cloth rags almost exclusively instead of paper towels (I do still keep paper towels around for certain highly “germy” jobs, such as wiping off my cat litter scoop, but a roll of paper towels now lasts me well over a month — I’ve actually lost track of when it was that I put out the roll I’m currenly using). I also use cloth napkins instead of paper ones (I’ve even started carrying a few with me in my purse so I don’t have to use paper napkins when I’m out).
As far as washing goes, as the article above suggests, I just throw them in with laundry that I’m already doing, and they rarely if ever seem to result in additional loads on laundry day. (And laundry is certainly not one of my favorite chores, so I think I’d notice if I was having to do more of it!) My electrical usage has not seemed to change much since my move away from paper towels.
As for the environmental impact of producing cloth towels, most of my cloth towels, napkins, and rags have either been purchased used from thrift stores(so they’re already “recycled” and my money is going to an often non-profit thrift store rather than to the manufacturer) or made by cutting up old clothes or sheets that are too ratty to be used.
So I’d strongly guess that #1 is the correct answer to your question. I did find a website where the “Green Seal” group said that if you’re only using a cloth towel once between washings, recycled paper is “probably” better, but based on everything I’ve said, I have a hard time seeing how. Unless they’re assuming you’re using a new-purchased, large-sized towel (most of my cleaning rags are washcloth-sized or smaller, though I do have some larger towels which I hang out for hand drying), and that you’re doing extra loads of laundry for the sole purpose of washing your cloth towels…and even then I’d think it would depend on how your electricity is produced. (Plenty of resoures go into producing paper towels, too, even recycled ones!)
(And as far as using a cloth towel once, I know my cloth napkins definitely take the place of more than one paper napkin. For cleaning, it depends on how dirty a rag has gotten whether I’ll use it again before washing it.)
June 28th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Sorry…meant to say “#2 is the correct answer” in my above message…:-(
March 8th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
To avoid the pungent smell from dish rags and sponges, put them in the fridge in between uses. This slows the growth of bacteria responsible for the unpleasant odor. You can hang the dish rag over the end of one of ths fridge shelves.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:05 am
About that pungent smell…. Most odors from dishrags are from rotting proteins. That dishrag either needs to go through the laundry or spend a good 15 mins in a hot bath of bleach water. Every other day or so I soak my scrubby sponge in a hot sink of bleach water (sink of water, splash of bleach) to sanitize the sponge, the sink and any pots or pans that need washed. Then I use that same water to wipe down my countertops, then I use it to mop the floor. Do NOT stick a stinky dish rag in the fridge and think you are going to kill the bacteria. Bacteria survived the ice age. As Antiquerian points out, chilling your dishrag is a preventative measure. Dishrags are notorious points of cross contamination and you should not be averse to washing them daily.