The Recyclist: Tea towels vs. paper towels

Turns out I'm doing something right. Sometimes this experiment -- sorry, life change -- seems to only shine a spotlight on what I do wrong. But I've got the upper hand on towel use.

Take paper towels. According to The Green Book -- the bestselling guide to greening the planet -- we are a paper towel-loving nation: "A decrease in U.S. household consumption of just three rolls per year would save 120,000 tons of waste and $4.1 million in landfill dumping fees." The guide suggests buying the kind of paper towel rolls that come with smaller size sheets. That is a terrific suggestion.

But I have one that's even better: You can replace most of your paper towel usage with tea towels and cloth napkins. Bar keep towels are also great for kitchen clean-up.

Now, do not get me wrong: I always have a roll of paper towels on my kitchen counter. That's really the only option for, say, wiping out the pan frying bacon,  or cleaning the bottom of the kitchen trash can after a bag leaks. But for run-of-the-mill kitchen and dining stuff, I use tea towels and cloth napkins. It's really not a hassle at all, and I ultimately save money. Read about how after the jump.

The key to my approach is having lots of tea towels and cloth napkins. This way, you only have to do the laundry every other month or so. I get the cheapest lint-free cotton I can find at Target, Kohl's, and dollar stores. (I don't care if they match my kitchen colors, or if I'm using Christmas towels in June.) Same thing with cloth napkins. I have nice, matching napkins for guests to use. But my husband and I use bargain bin cloth napkins for everyday.

I recently bought a batch of bar keep towels at Sam's Club: 24 towels (each about the size of a large wash cloth) for about $10. The 12-pack of paper towels I usually buy at another big-box store is roughly $15. But I get to use the bar keep towels over and over again -- plus, there's nothing going into the landfill.

My cloth towels go anywhere a paper towel will: I use a damp tea towel to wrap herbs to keep them fresh in the crisper. I stretch a tea towel out on the counter so that wet dishes have a place to air dry. (I oppose hand-drying dishes. My time is much better spent watching Timothy Olyphant in "Justified.") I use them to  wipe down the kitchen counters, or scrub down the fridge.

Personally, I put all my dirty napkins and towels into their own hamper in the garage and wash them together every six to eight weeks. Nitpickers might ask whether it wastes more energy to generate the hot water and laundry soap needed to wash all those towels... blah... blah... blah.... The whole point of this exercise -- I mean life change -- is to stop throwing stuff into the garbage.

To further reduce my itch for paper towels, I've recently started draping the paper towel holder with tea towels, and stack more tea towels in front of it. I'd have to scratch my way through a forest of tea towels in order to get a paper towel. I've made it easier to reach for a tea towel -- and put my own laziness to work for me.

And that's the best kind of progress.   

Please let me know any places where I can find cheap tea towels and cloth napkins. I'm always on the lookout for more.

-- Rene Lynch

Comments

[naeiri]

try ethnic (middle eastern) stores. pretty much every middle eastern household uses kitchen towels instead of paper towels :)

[Paul Treanor]

Your journey is the same one I've taken the past few years leading up to my guilty feeling each time I use a single sheet of paper towel. My suggestion for inexpensive yet well-made tea towel - IKEA. Gotta love the Swedes. Thank you for writing this column and internalizing my feeling of superiority over paper-towel wasting earth inhabitants.

[blue_dolphin]

Your sink will look stylish with one of the Magisso cloth holders from urban-butik.com

[Laura]

Any hints or tricks to reduce the impact we have on the environment are great! And this as an easy one that can also save money. Why wouldn't we do this?

[Emily]

Ikea has great ones

[susie]

If you read the newspaper in the paper version, it can be used to wipe out the bacon fat or wipe out the kitchen trash can and in some cities it can then go into the yard waste instead of the garbage. Keep the roll of paper towels in the coat closet and it will last for years!

[Mark]

Yea, I suppose that's a start... But I don't even use paper toilet paper.

[BlueSkies]

Instead of buying tea towels, consider recycling suitable clothing (cotton and too ratty to give to charity). Old cut up old T-shirts, sleeves removed, and flannel pajamas work particularly well.

[Rebecca Bunting]

Old T-shirts can easily take the place of really dirty paper towel jobs, like the bacon grease....you're going to throw them away anyway, and they are biodegradable. Cut them up for easy to grab sop-uppers. What do you think people used before paper towels were invented?!

[pasadena gal]

Thank you for this inspiring article! I've been using Trader Joe's kitchen cloths but could definitely stock up on tea towels and cloth napkins. Especially having my own washer and dryer I don't have an excuse now. That is a great idea to have a huge stack so you don't have to worry about running out and only have to wash once in awhile!

[vintagebarrio]

i really love the dishtowels they sell in china town at the wing hop fung store, 727 N Broadway Ste 102. cheap and pretty colors. also check the dollar stores in korea town and other ethnic neighborhoods.

and, of course, flea markets and, sometimes, thrift stores are a great source of kitschy old tea towels, some in great condition.

you can also pick up mid century thick cotton printed tablecloths with stains/holes in them at flea markets for under $10. i cut them into tea towels and hem the edges.

[Alyssa @ Keeping the Kingdom First]

I recently wrote about this very topic on my blog, and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of commenters who are making the switch to cloth as well. It's becoming a movement to go paperless, or at the very least reduce paper waste.

I bought a large pack of bar towels at my local Walmart for a few dollars. Money well spent!

Here is my article about it in case you are interested:

http://bit.ly/bxLv0I

[Apres Ski]

I love tea towels! Like you, I buy them everywhere and they don't have to match, just be functional when I need them. Right now, I've designated two towels "strictly" for drying dishes. I have one that's all-purpose-all-around to do everything, but I still have a roll of paper towels. And it's the paper towels that are "tear in half" so you're not using a whole paper towel just to wipe up a dot of water, oil or dirt. I love those half paper towels.

But you also need to use those Blue Shop Towels. I found them first at Home Depot & thought they were regular paper towels until I used one. The first thing I noticed was the texture and the next the thing I noticed was how absorbent they were when it came to oil.

I used them to drain chicken or any oily foods and was stunned at how they just soaked up almost all the oil . . . they were EXCELLENT!! You can buy them in a roll or in a box. I usually buy about 3-4 boxes at a time because they are just wonderful. Here's what the look like . . . http://bit.ly/cXYT60

So the next time you see them, buy a roll or two or even a box because these guys do hold up under hot water & bleach, to my shock & I can't stop using them over the regular paper towels. Of course, I don't use the blue ones as much but where there's a heavy duty job to do, BLUE WILL DO!!

[ReneeFelice]

Old cloth diapers! I keep a stack under the sink. Very absorbent.

[Staceyyh]

Typically my used paper towels end up in the composter. Puts them to good use, and saves landfill space.

[Sherri]

I also use tea towels and kitchen towels but in addition, for the heavy cleaning we buy the machinist rags - basically cheap white oversized wash cloths. You can get them at Costco or Smart & Final in large packs. We use these even for the dirtiest cleaning and collect them in a bucket under the utility sink to be washed. We have managed to eliminate paper towels completely!

Also....at the office we were going through a lot of paper towels. After I began bringing my own cloth napkin to work it inspired the owner and she bought cloth napkins in a variety of colors. Now everyone grabs one and uses it through the week. At the end of the week they go in a bag and she washes them over the weekend. 8 people used to go through a lot of paper towels - now they have been eliminated there too!

[Amanda Riddle]

I was aghast when I visited a friend and he didn't have any dish towels. He used paper towels exclusively, saying it was more sanitary. I thought he was being overly cautious but does anyone have any thoughts on this? I try to hardly use my paper towels.

[Pamela Coddington]

Bravo for your reduction of paper waste! I commend you. I also encourage you to try a product that I'm helping to promote. It's the last trend in sustainability -- reducing your use of paper towels in public restrooms by carrying your own PeopleTowel. PeopleTowels (www.peopletowels.com) are 100% organic cotton personal reusable hand towels. This new product introduces an ec0-habit that has long been in place in Japan, where people carry a small hand towel with every day because paper products in public restrooms aren't even an option.

Thanks again for bringing paper towel waste to the forefront.

[Ingrid]

I go through about a roll of paper towels a month, but when my in-laws are over and cook a meal, I have to replace the roll almost every day! I hang white towels (for drying dishes) and dark towels (for washing hands) in the kitchen and like to buy my towels here - www.thetowelplace.com.

[cb_from_oz]

I take an old worn out towel, and cut it into large squares. Are the dishes going to care?