Reduce Paper Towel Usage

February 18th, 2010

One thing you can do to change your habits in honor of upcoming Earth Day is to take a long, hard look at your paper towel usage. And maybe stop using altogether.

kitchen-towels-green

Sure, paper towels can be handy for things like cleaning up kitty vomit or patting the grease off the top of bacon, but do you really have to use them for every little mess?

I cut down on my paper towel usage by following a few easy routines:

• Dry your hands with a clean towel that you reserve for that purpose: a hand towel in the kitchen. You may wish to buy some different ones for this purpose so they can be identified as hand towels for the kitchen, not for cleaning.

• Clean messes with a dish towel. Replace it daily (or more often if needed) to reduce the spread of germs.

• If you’re cleaning something particularly gross, go ahead and use a paper towel if that makes you feel better. Or just use a cloth towel once.

If you follow those tips, you may be able to cut your paper towel usage down to just one roll or less a month. Lots of folks don’t use any paper towels at all.

Imagine the money and trees you’ll save.

(Image via Etsy)

Filed under Green Choices | Comments (2)

2 Responses to “Reduce Paper Towel Usage”

  1. DianaHayes on February 18, 2010 6:40 pm

    I think the best way is to let it run out. Once you go without it, you will get so used to using other products, that it won’t be your first choice. I don’t have paper napkins anymore, I use cloth. I did have to make a rule that we don’t wipe up spills with the cloth napkins. Basically I like to use paper towels for grease with bacon. I think it would leave too much residue on the other wash. Do you have any suggestions for cleaning up grease, that won’t leave a residue in my washing machine?

  2. Peggy on February 18, 2010 8:12 pm

    You could try sprinkling some corn starch on the grease to absorb it first before cleaning.

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