January's Green Challenge: Paper Towel Free Household
Join the Green Challenge every month and make one small change to help the environment. Keep us posted on your progress throughout the month and keep an eye out for spectacular giveaways.You'd think that the world stopped spinning when we run out of paper towels in our house. Apparently I'm the only one who knows the secret location of the rags and dish towels. This month I've decided to do a little experiment and not replenish our paper towel supply, forcing everyone to be conscientious of the waste.
Here are some fast facts:
- 90% of American households purchase paper towels.
- Disposable towels amount to 3,000 tons of waste per day.
- Using recycled paper towels saves 4000kWh of energy and 7,000 gallons of water.
- Paper towels make a great addition to your compost pile.
I'll be checking in next week with my progress (and whether my family is still speaking to me).
All Natural Beauty Products Roundup
It's Energy Independence Day! 
Green Your 4th of July Celebration
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-05-2009 @ 5:55PM
Phil L. said...
I'd be curious to hear from folks who have attempted this - who also have small children in the house.
I spent some of the holidays with a 9 year-old with a stomach bug - and (successfully) keeping it from his two siblings. And (thankfully!) avoiding a cousin who later turned up with strep throat. We blew threw a pile of paper towels as a result of frequent hand washing, trying to keep the germs at bay.
How do you handle multiple small children in a bathroom - and many hand-washing trips? No, they don't understand how germs travel, and don't follow instructions very consistently once out of parental eyesight.
How many towels do you keep around to avoid spreading infections? Does each kid get their own towel in each bathroom? How often do you wash them?
Reply
1-05-2009 @ 6:05PM
Patricia said...
We are almost paper towel free, but you need a lot of rags to keep up, unless you do laundry every day.
Reply
1-05-2009 @ 6:12PM
kelly.leahy said...
Wow! I can't believe that you kept the bug from spreading. We recently all got a stomach bug one at a time ... of course I didn't got through a roll of paper towels though it would have been worth it.
During times of illness, I would recommend keeping one hand towel per kid and washing daily -- or just wiping hands dry on pant legs :)
There are just so many ways that those germs can spread without even making it to the bathroom to wash hands.
Reply
1-06-2009 @ 3:57PM
Christina Clark said...
Great challenge Kelly. We gave up paper towels about six months ago. We bought two packages of automotive microfiber towels at Sam's Club (which are probably not eco-friendly in the way they are made) and now have a basket on the kitchen counter full of them. We grab a towel whenever we need one for anything. I keep a five gallon bucket in the laundry room that we drop them into when we are finished with them. I wash a load about every other week. We also have lots of kitchen towels of various types, and dishcloths.
We have cloth napkins too, (just got a great deal on some white ones at an after-Christmas sale) but are working through our supply of paper napkins before we use them. We compost the paper napkins.
Reply
1-06-2009 @ 3:57PM
cheaplikeme said...
Great challenge! We have paper towels in the house, but we use them very rarely. We use cloth napkins, dish cloths, rags for wiping up messes, cloth handkerchiefs, and dishcloths at the kitchen sink.
I don't know why you would need to use paper towels even in times of sickness ... after all, soap is what kills the germs, so by the time hands are dried, germs should be gone. That said, I know it's tough with little kids, and I think different colored hand towels (one for each person) would be a great solution. In our bathroom, we do dry hands each on our own towel, and leave the hand towels pretty much to guests, and we are very rarely sick, even with two family members in two different elementary schools.
We turn all kinds of things into rags and re-use them again and again. Paper towels are reserved for the occasional cleaning of potentially very germy items, like chicken "juice."
Reply
1-08-2009 @ 11:57AM
Robin said...
I buy white utility washcloths (less than $3 at Walmart for 10). We use these for everything: cleaning, spills, napkins, etc. They can go in the laundry with the whites, so no extra load. Cloth diapers are great too, for lint free cleaning.
Reply
1-09-2009 @ 10:27AM
Shelley said...
I have always hated paper towels and now with 3 children we use more than ever. Determined to stop the madness, I found this interesting article @ http://www.sustainableisgood.com/blog/2007/06/a-product-paper.html
Love the earlier post about keeping them in a basket, having a separate hamper/can for them. That is the plan.
Reply