apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We keep a roll around in a less-than-convenient place so it isn't the first thing you reach for. We use it for the same things you do--bacon and boston terrier. Those things should come with warning labels about their pukiness levels.

I agree with brittanykate -- we keep a roll around, but in an incredibly inconvenient place in the kitchen. It really forces us to think twice about whether we need one or not. Our dish rags/towels are in an easy-to-reach drawer so they're the first thing we reach for.

I pretty much agree with your post. I use a sponge for most tasks, such as cleaning the counters and appliances. But I keep paper towels around for greasy and gross jobs. My husband and I go through one roll every month or two. I think that is reasonable.

I use for drying meats & cleaning up messes of things I don't want to go thru the wash. Bacon grease gets poured from the cast iron skillet (my preferred way to cook it) into a jar for later use. I actually really would rather not eat bacon than eat it if cooked in the microwave. But that's a whole other conversation!

I reach for a wet cloth towel for most kitchen clean ups but some things are best left to paper towels...mopping up dropped eggs, grease, broken glass shard or things i don't want in a cloth rag. I use a paper towel to wrap my garden vegetables and leafy greens before I put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate. The paper keeps the veggies from rotting in the sack and extends the shelf life several days. They can be reused several times, but work well to keep the sacks from "sweating".

Ditto. Super greasy stuff like bacon, and cases where you need to dry off meat/fish/chicken before cooking.

One thing: "If you have a garden they are great for composting and can be mixed in with the rest of your kitchen scraps." I wouldn't recommend putting greasy paper towels in a composter.

I'm already using so many sponges and washing kitchen towels as it is. I keep my paper towels in a cabinet and I buy a two pack every three months. I agree: the right tool for the right job!

I agree. And sometimes it just seems safer. If I accidentally spill a bunch of raw chicken juice on my counter? Sure, I could use my sponge, wash it off, then stick it in the microwave to desanitize. But that seems like it's just as ecofriendly to use a small amount of soapy paper towel and then toss it.

I do, however take care to never go through more than one roll every three months or so.

I haven't had any for a few weeks. Mostly because I have forgotten to buy some, not because of any larger goal. I honestly haven't missed them BUT, I have not made bacon in this time period.

A note on composting paper towels: I have a Naturemill indoor composter, which is lovingly maintained by my husband. I was throwing in paper towels but he nixed it because they were jamming the machine.

But now we're starting an outdoor compost heap for all our yard waste, and I am going to start putting them back in there, along with larger food scraps like melon rinds or other things that aren't as easily composted indoors.

My biggest problem with eliminating paper towels is the need to either have a ridiculous amount of cloth towels on hand or do wash much more often-which is a problem when you don't have a washing machine and have to traipse to the laundromat 3 times for every load. I prefer not to wipe things with dirty towels, and when you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, they get grimy fast.

Bravo. Well said. And it seems there's a bit of a consensus here! And I'm with you all. Towels and sponges have their purpose and paper has its purpose.

And for every person who gets obsessed with whether or not their paper towels are bleached (and the inevitable complaints about how bad they are at sopping up any sort of mess) I wish I could remind them that their gas stove and Webber grill used to make all those delicious local recipes are using fossil fuels faster than you can say "chicken parmigiana". Nobody seems to mind that though, so why should I mind [biodegradable] paper products that serve an incredibly useful purpose.

Plus, it's not like it's totally green to be paper towel free. It still takes WATER to wash all the napkins and cloths, plus the soapy water. It's best to reduce, and then reuse. You're just trading in one thing for another. People who tell me that I'm not being green enough because I have a roll of paper towels over my sink, I just raise one eyebrow to.

I mean, hey, what about toilet paper? You're going to give up on those, too? And how many loads of laundry do you do? Or do you wash everything by hand?

I'm more into conscientiousness. Know that you're giving up paper towels, but you're also using more water, more energy, and different means to support that. It's not totally, 100% green.

I put my paper towels into the composter if they have been used to clean off food.

Thanks! This is a great, well-written post. There's been a real tendency in environmental issues to throw the baby out with the bathwater . . . when the most progress has been made in tying environmentalism to smart economic and efficiency goals . . . use less and save money. The goal isn't to return to our grandparents' time, it's to take the best of their wisdom and apply it to modern innovations.

For years I didn't use paper towels, but then I realized that I never made fried foods and everything would stick to the ungreased bbq grill. So like brittanykate, I now have a roll hiding in a cupboard for these uses.

Awesome post.

Tried to think of something to add besides that, but I think you covered everything!

Del
Delementals

Hmmm... I guess I am alone here. Not AGAINST paper towels but really I haven't missed them a bit. I know I do have a bit of an advantage with a larger home (not the small space apartment of most) so I have a large amount of rags beyond just the wash towels for the kitchen and a garage to store them in. I can't argue that everyone can do this.

We don't fry foods much (don't eat bacon) and save most grease we create for later use. I even wipe out my beloved cast iron skillet (named Hank) with clean rags.

I don't think I have wanted or needed a paper towel in years. But again, even with a couple of dogs that like to spit up meals now and again, I have managed.

Good post. I keep a roll in the hall closet for cleaning up kitty messes and broken glass but I usually use rags. And, as Brooklyn Baker pointed out, I do have a HUGE number of them. They're two loads by themselves!

I laughed at your clarification of "we." The AT community houses a lot of grammar snobs.

While I don't think your conclusions are particularly unreasonable, I find it ludicrous that your "research" sounds like it consisted of some google queries and reading other blogs (and maybe some "media sources"). That's about like writing a report by only looking at the encyclopedia ... something they usually train kids out of in elementary school.

If you thought research was necessary before sharing your opinion, then something more rigorous was called for. Maybe consulting studies done for academic journals, or interviewing some experts, or anything that might be closer to a primary source than a blog post. I suspect most of the reason that you didn't find any useful sources or statistics out there is because all those other bloggers did about what you did for "research". Given that TheKitchn is not a "hobby" blog, it might be nice to have more than just opinions to back up your position when you're trying to claim you researched something.

That said, I'm not sure that any of us really need to research this. Most sane people are aware that no one thing is responsible for the environmental problems we face. And too many people are stuck on the idea of recycling and have forgotten that the original statement was Reduce, Re-use, Recyle (in THAT order). If you've reduced your paper towel use and use a washable cloth/sponge for some tasks, then you've probably already made some positive impact. Time to look elsewhere (can you hang your laundry to dry, can you walk or ride your bike, etc).

I do try to limit my paper towel usage, but I refuse to use anything else to clean up grease or other unsavory household messes (we have two cats, you fill in the blank). Sorry, but I'm not going to do a load of laundry to wash one towel (talk about waste!); and I'm sure not going to throw it in with other clothes.

But personal preferences and laundry aside, it's a sanitation issue. In culinary school, we were ServSafe certified, and were constantly told by our (similarly certified) chef instructors to use disposable towels for cleaning messes (side towels are not for cleaning!). I can't even imagine using a dish towel to dry off a raw chicken. *shudder* I'm pretty sure my washing machine doesn't sanitize, and I'm not willing to chance it.

Paper towels definitely have their place. Thanks for alleviating some guilt!

http://www.abreadaday.com

I have tons of kitchen towels, but I won't give up paper towels. I don't make very much bacon, but I do dry off meat and fish, clean up cat puke, etc.

I like the pick-a-size rolls, because I usually don't need a full sheet. I think it would be great if they made ones with quarter sheets, for tiny little messes like drips of raw egg.

And, while I normally go for store brand paper goods, I find Brawny paper towels to be fabulously thick and sturdy.

I have really started to cut back on my paper towel usage lately, but like everyone else here I still use them for cleaning up unsanitary messes, such as animal messes and drying meats. I also use them to clean my bathroom. There is just no better way to get rid of all the hair from me, my fiance and my pets. If I use a sponge for that the hair will just end up down the drain, which is what I am trying to avoid. Also, the bathroom is a gross place in general and I feel better about just throwing the mess away rather than having a sponge sitting around in there.

I don't keep paper towels in my kitchen just because I know I would go directly to them for everything if I did! I do wish I had them every time I make bacon though, but I just use a small hand towel, it works fine. And I use toilet paper to clean up the occasional dog mess.

So you can go paper towel free without sacrificing, but I don't blame people who keep them around!

I bought a whole bunch of cloth napkins a year ago and I'm pretty much the only one at home who uses them but my parents use paper napkins. We ran out a few days ago and my god, I only ever used them to pat away some of the grease from bacon or a fried corn tortilla and never realized that I do need them regardless if I am trying to be completely green.

And my cat occasionally pukes and yeah the cloth napkins and things I have on hand just push it away instead of absorbing it.

Why in God's name would admit you bake, or worse yet, microwave bacon? I could understand it if this was a hedonophobia support forum or something, but damn... A cast iron skillet containing a shallow depth of bacon grease left over from that mornings frying should be a requirement for any so called food blogger or journalist. I look forward to your next post where you explain the most ecofriendly way to wash all the butter off your popcorn, poser.

I make more than an honest effort in every other area in my home, kitchen, etc. but I am an unabashed consumer and user of paper towels. Love 'em-can't live w/out them.

Eprewitt, culinary school is definitely the root of my obsessive "sanitation" needs as well, which is why, as I mentioned previously, the idea of using towels over and over again without washing them every single day grosses me out, and my poor little laundry-less apartment does not condone that. Darn you Servsafe! My roommate thinks I'm insane, but I'll stick to paper towels for most things involving food. It's really the cleanest way, and when you're talking about something that's going to be around stuff you put in your mouth, that's the only way, in my opinion.

Your patronizing and mocking tone doesn't help your argument, and it needs a lot of help. After half-heartedly looking at some blogs, you made up a justification for not using environmentally-friendly products (which do exist, and are completely "financially viable," though if you truly feel you need to wipe yourself with TP made from raw silk it might be more difficult) that boils down to "I don't want to." Rather than making any tiny sort of effort towards improving our current unsustainable systems of manufacturing and waste production by choosing responsibly-made products or simply not buying them at all, you propose people just sit around waiting for wizard scientists to make some magical product that will solve all of our problems and, most importantly of course, be cheap cheap CHEAP! It's people with your selfish attitude that make generating much-needed changes so unnecessarily difficult.

I find myself environmentally conscious, and I definitely do my part in other areas, but I really don't have any qualms about paper towels. I've tried to buy the "greener" brands of paper towels, but I always find their quality is crap and I have to use two to three times as many to clean up the same spill.

I mean, I guess over time, buying a bulk package of shop towels from Costco may be better. But, I did that for that same reason back when I lived in Washington D.C. several years ago, and the towels were awful and completely non-absorbent.

Oh, but for fried foods, and bacon, simply put them on a cookie rack. The oil will still drain.

Actually, for bacon, I turn on my cold water in my sink pretty low and I run the bacon quickly under the cold water. It still stays hot, but it helps to move the grease off of the bacon.

"Why in God's name would admit you bake, or worse yet, microwave bacon? I could understand it if this was a hedonophobia support forum or something, but damn... A cast iron skillet containing a shallow depth of bacon grease left over from that mornings frying should be a requirement for any so called food blogger or journalist. I look forward to your next post where you explain the most ecofriendly way to wash all the butter off your popcorn, poser."

Have you ever baked bacon? It's 10 times easier than frying -- just put it in the oven and go about your business -- and you don't get hit by boiling splattering grease. And, the bacon gets super-crispy. In my opinion, there's no better way to do it.

Microwaving, on the other hand...I dont' go there.

The thought of dirty rags in the kitchen makes me gag. Think of the bacteria and germs, and unless you run them through boiling water, simply washing won't eliminate the germs -- well, maybe with bleach.

I don't tear through a roll of paper towels every other day, but I use them, and I don't apologize. The tone of the original post may have been a bit mocking (and I do mean a bit), but the responses (some of them) were sadly self-righteous. And that's a beef I have with so many of our environmentally conscientious brothers and sister.

This post describes pretty much exactly what we do in our kitchen.

One note for those who don't have their own washer as an excuse for avoiding using cloth towels - bring them into the shower with you and give them a pre-wash with soap under the pressure of the shower head. Or, if they're really bad, wash a small batch of them in super hot water in the sink. Let them dry and then they will be ok to put in with a load of your clothes too for a regular load of laundry.

We are a combination house too. Kitchen towels for most stuff, paper towels for anything that would make me want to throw the towel away.

I've had the same sort of problem with dirty kitchen towels and not wanting to do lots of laundry. I solved this with a two-towel color system.

My white towels only touch food, since they show if they get dirty. These are used for stuff like covering rising dough, drying veggies, wiping clean dishes dry, etc.

My dark blue towels are the actual "dirty" towels. I use them on stuff that isn't touching food, like countertops, the stove, the floor, etc. That way I can reuse them without getting all germphobic. They're also smaller than the normal kitchen towel, so I can easily give them a quick hot soapy rinse by hand when I'm done cleaning. Then I just drape it over the side of my drying rack to dry.

That way I only have to resort to throwing it in the laundry every once in a while after a really dirty session, instead of after one or two uses.

I would love you sympathize with this post, but... I just don't. Decreasing your environmental footprint is a challenge. It means giving up some conveniences and doing potentially yucky things like cleaning up dog puke with a rag.

Also, the argument of "If the trees are grown for paper, it makes it okay!" is just totally, totally bogus. Think about all of the energy used to grow, harvest, and process those trees. Think about all the pollution created by this process, the impact of the chemicals used to process the paper towels, and the land that's being drained of its nutrients. Reusing rags eliminates the repition of this process.

Were you in any way reimbursed for writing this love letter to the paper towel industry?

Maybe if you had written more as a reduce reuse recycle tone which does seem to be part of your article instead of I love myself too much to give up something I deep down believe to be bad but want to justify the use of to begin with it would have been more successful as an article.

Collin73, I hardly think the post is a love letter. While there are several points on the merits of using paper (when there are not many other options) there are waaaay more ideas on how to not (ab)use and to be more mindful.

And even then, I'm sure the readership, if we had to, could figure out alternates to paper towels if we were to decide not to keep them in the house -- we are the converted, after all.

Thanks for writing this article, it was very well thought out. However, a few qualms:

1. There are companies like Cascades, Wausau Paper, Seventh Generation, etc. that are really innovating on paper towel ma.nufacturing by using less natural resources and chemicals, therefore creating healthier products and manufacturing facilities. I think it would've been really helpful if this article researched some of the manufacturing issues and made some recommendations on what to look for. Did you know that the EPA's purchasing guidelines for government purchases recommends at least 10% post-consumer content in all paper products? There's also a Green Seal certification for paper towels that I believe requires 30% post-consumer as well as certain requirements on less-toxic processing. There's a certification label for the elimination of chlorine in processing. All of these are things that consumers can look for when they purchase paper towels, to drive the market towards more sustainable manufacturing.

2. As someone who works in the environmental/sustainability field, and just as a conscious consumer, I don't really appreciate the condenscending-towards-environmentalism tone in this post, it's quite childish and doesn't adequately address the nuances of the environmental and social impacts. There is so much more to the impacts of paper towels than "hearing baby trees crying and becoming more extinct" -- come on, that is so misinformed (trees are renewable resources, they just should be sustainably managed, and we should be using recycled fiber first rather than virgin growth). And that is the OLD environmentalism, the world of treehuggers and hippies and crunchy granolatasticness. We're in the age of sustainability where paper towels mean not only fresh trees being cut down, but the lack of innovation in recycled paper manufacturing and having to use virgin trees that are not always sustainably managed, the negative effects of the manufacturing process on human as well as environmental health, shipping transportation, etc.

There are issues of environmental justice, climate change, and innovation that were totally dismissed in this article. In fact, the author alluded to these in her list of researched negatives, but kind of glosses over them. Not adequate!

3. I like the point about using the proper tool for the job... but maybe I'm just clueless but I've never needed to use paper towels for more than cleaning up cat puke! I don't cook meat (including bacon) at home so most of those reasons up there don't apply to me.

my bad, here are the precycled content guidelines I just looked up:

Green Seal Environmental Standard for Paper Towels and Paper Napkins (http://www.greenseal.org/certification/standards/paper_towels-napkins_GS_09.pdf): 100% recovered material and 40% post-consumer content by weight

EPA Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines for Commercial/Industrial Sanitary Tissue (http://www.epa.gov/waste/conserve/tools/cpg/products/tissue.htm): 40-100% recovered material and 40-60% post-consumer content by weight.

So basically, look for at least 40% post-consumer content and 100% recovered material!

i'm nearly 33 years old, and i don't think i've ever bought a roll of paper towels. yes, i grew up with them, so really only the last 13 years are applicable to this, but that's not the point. in those 13 years i have never found myself wishing i had some paper towels at home. i have cloth towels and rags for wiping and drying. in the event of the odd, small mess, like your boston terrier's vomit, i usually have a few paper napkins in a drawer leftover from eating out somewhere (rather than throw away the unused napkins, i take them home), and worst case scenario, there's always toilet paper in the bathroom. i don't fry food at home pretty much ever, and because i'm a vegetarian, bacon isn't really an issue at my place. it seems to me that if that's your primary uses for them, then a roll should last you a year or two, and that's not so bad.

Like everyone else, I use paper towels (or leftover takeout napkins) for one or two things around the house. The roll usually lasts more than a year.

But someone should design a grease soaker-upper that works better than a conventional paper towel, is unbleached and food-safe. Market it beside the bacon.

Bacon: Just put it on a plate or a wire rack. Amazingly enough, the grease will collect on the plate and the plate can be washed with the rest of the dishes, or you could even use a rubber/silicone scraper to scrape the drippings into your collection jar. Same with the drippings in the pan - just use your rubber/silicone scraper to clean most of the drippings out of the pan and use a clean dishtowel with hot water to wipe the pan clean.

Other messes: This is what dishrags and dishtowels were invented for. I keep a drawer full of clean dishtowels (and cut-down bathtowels that have frayed or torn in the laundry) for the inevitable household messes and cleaning.

Sponges: Cellulose sponges are far nastier for us and the environment than towels since they never clean up completely, and they too are made from trees... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponge_(tool)
...so they're doubly nasty for us and the environment.

Laundry: All the dishtowels go into the laundry with the bathtowels and/or bathmats on a weekly basis - There's no special load just for them.

Cleaning Windows & Mirrors: Most every community has free weekly papers that are perfect for that purpose - just pick up a copy or two, or ask your neighbor for their old newspaper.

Paper Towels: I have a roll sitting in the rack in my kitchen, but I can't remember the last time I used any.

I'm going to weigh in here and first of saying 2-3 of the posters sure got all holier than thou in their responses, which is totally un called for and secondly, I HAVE worked in the food industry and while I was NOT a cook, I worked at a pizza delivery place back in the 80's and worked as a dishwasher for 2 years at a large family style Italian restaurant that was one busy place, anyway, they use white towels to wipe their hands and to wipe away crumbs and towels in bleach water are used to wipe down counters.

The next day, all of those towels and the smocks and such get bleached in HOT water to soak a bit before being run through the washing machine so all that HOT water will sanitize everything, or it should or it would not have been approved by the board of health.

Also, it's good sanitary practice to never mix your raw meat, be it red meat but most especially the poultry w/ your other foods so different cutting boards are recommended for those tasks and yes, paper towels are required by many food service industries now thanks to food safety regs from many juristictions because paper towels in SOME situations are best.

That said, to use them to simply dry one's hands after washing is not one of them.

I do keep a roll on my counter and they are NOT the first thing I use but I WILL use them for dealing with meat and poultry and to do a quick wipe up of any meat juices that might spill and generally, a roll lasts me months before it's used up. I don't use rags at all since I have a communal laundry room and nor do I have the space for a lot of towels for such tasks. I have a hand towel and a dish towel on my oven door to dry dishes and my hands after washing them with soap and water.

As for the post itself, fairly well thought out although some of the research could've been improved on and the need for sanitary uses for chicken etc was not stated.

When I'm at my MOm's and am doing laundry there, I use HOT water for bedding, bath linens and for all white socks and underwear when bleach is needed, otherwise I use WARM/COLD at my building since I wash everything in one load (sans bedding and usually bath linens).

I forgot to mention, I use a sponge with a scratch safe scrubbing pad on one side to wipe down stuff at the end of doing dishes and such and to wash the dishes with. That sponge is in hot soapy water enough that it stays cleaner than it may look as sponges get stained over time. I simply keep using it until it begins to fall apart and I'm rarely sick as a result.

Wow. I have never known there was an issue with paper towels. I am amazed at the amount of posts for this issue. And the passion! Geez Louise!

In my ignorance, I have used one or two paper towels probably every day for the last 40 years. Am I now convinced to do otherwise? No.

My dog barfs? It's paper towels all the way. My kid gets a bloody nose? A paper towel to the rescue. Husband tracks mud in all over his shoes? Yep, paper towel.

Convenience is the name of the game. No smelly, sticky rags laying around my kitchen, thank you very much. Ick.

I'm ok with paper towels. Especially now that they go in the green box in our municipal waste pick-up. I think it's funny that anyone would write such a long post in defense of them!

After the last, expensive go-around with cleaning out grease-clogged pipes, my city has pleaded with residents not to let grease go down the drain, but to find a way to get it into the trash instead. Paper towels are good for that.

In the vein of 'the right tool for the job', I think the poster should have two rolls of paper towels since she's not prepared to go 100% recycled all the way. She could use the 100% recycled paper towels for most needs, and use the fancy brand for when she wants super-duper absorbent towels.

I started transitioning away from paper towels in 2003. I always have a roll handy, but a roll lasts me 3 weeks now when it used to last me less than a week. I will not ever be getting rid of them entirely.

The transition to green would be a lot easier and quicker if the "extreme green" voices out there stopped barking like a drill sargeant. It only robs people of a sense of satisfaction for the accomplishments they have made so far. It motivates no one and it just covers the whole movement in a sense of dissatisfaction and failure. Like a good diet that ultimately leads to better habits, this journey is going to take a while. Crash diets never stick.

I don't use paper towels. It's not because I'm a smug environmentalist, it's because there were plenty of ways before the paper towel came along to "do the job" that are still perfectly serviceable.

If my family makes greasy food, we use a wire rack for a few minutes to let the grease drip off the food (keeping it in the oven if the food needs to remain a certain temperature).

We have a bag of cut up rags that we use to clean up things like cat puke and muddy floors (we also have a separate collection of "food only" rags).

I put on my dish gloves and then rinse the rags and hang up to dry (then once they've dried they can get tossed into the laundry bin for the next washing, or used again for a like task if you are so inclined). The space needed to maintain this collection of rags is equivalent to a few extra t-shirts in the wash. The same sort of space that a few rolls of paper towels needs, stored under the sink.

So while my household is paper towel free (I never even realized it was a big deal, apparently we can be holier than thou without even realizing it), I would still rather use two recycled unbleached Seventh Generation paper towels than one of the alternative. I could handle the minute extra grease on the bacon and am quite willing to rinse my hands off should my bloody nose become out of control.

Arrrggg. I wasn't going to comment on this because I feel many others already covered the reasons why this blog is so ridiculous (e.g. lack of primary sources for the "research", the hypocritical nature in stating they choose to eat healthy for their bodies and not the environment, then proceeding to talk about the importance of paper towels for cooking bacon, etc.); however, I was dwelling on it far too much and just needed to get this comment out of my system. The author states that paper towels aren't destroying trees because we, for instance, are good at growing trees in this country and paper towels are produced from trees grown as crops and not from virgin forests. CLEARLY, the author has no experience with environmental or agricultural sciences.

One of the PRIMARY environmental problems facing the world today is habitat destruction, and NO ONE has commented on this yet! If we are modifying a natural habitat to create artificial monocultures to produce paper towels because people don't want to chant "ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!" after they clean up their dogs barf, then how ridiculously selfish are we as a nation! I have two dogs, and I live with seven, and I don't feel it necessary to clean up after them using unsustainable methods, and if I did, I wouldn't have dogs. Simple as that. It is not right to use this as an example to justify destroying the habitat of other ecologically important creatures. Obviously, the dog issue was one of many as to why the author does not feel it necessary to curb paper towel use, but she really needs better information if she feels it necessary to mock the sustainability movement.

As a resident of California, it is almost impossible not to bring up the drought issue as well. Water is not readily available everywhere, and replacing an environmentally efficient ecosystem with one that needs to consume outside resources is just stupid. And that is exactly what happens when "paper towel trees" are planted where primary habitat once remained. Not to mention, if the author still feels it necessary to eat bacon despite the wealth of information regarding why fried foods are not beneficial to one's health, perhaps she should consider that any cleared habitat should remain in use for the production of food products, and not wasteful luxuries. Preserving space for agriculture is going to become increasingly important as the younger generations start to bring little ones into the world and our planet becomes even more populated with even more mouths to feed.

I'd prefer not to resort to histrionics, however I was so utterly offended by this post. We as a population need to start taking responsibility for our actions, and especially in the case of people whose opinions are actually taken into consideration. Numerous people will read this post and say "yah, you are right, who cares!" when in reality forums such as Apartment Therapy with an avid following should really start setting an appropriate example, or at the very least, avoid posting in favor of acts which are environmentally detrimental. As another poster stated, "Reduce, reuse, recycle" should be our mantra, not "the right tool for the job."

Well said, airheartscheese. The excuse of "they are already grown so we can cut them down, we'll just plant more" isn't cutting it for me. Because it certainly isn't accurate or "sustainable".

Having to wash dirty dishtowels doesn't help our drought situation either...

And for those who say there's always toilet PAPER to clean up the occasional icky dog/cat messes, it's still PAPER. Still going in the trash. Still being processed from trees that are grown and cut down for toilet paper. Don't hear any cries to give up toilet paper.

I don't think the tone of this post is to say "who cares" but rather, there are valid reasons for some to continue using paper towels, without being ashamed of it or having to feel guilty about it. I think the author is simply saying, this is why we use them, stop judging.

I also rather don't care for the tone of those who think that they have all the right answers because they are an Environmentalist.

I use moppines (dishtowels) for drying my hands, drying dishes (sometimes, they usually air-dry), and sometimes even as a napkin if I'm eating something particularly messy. BUT, as others have mentioned, dirty towels add up quickly and this can lead to doing LOTS of laundry. I use paper towels to clean up nasty things, like cat puke, and sometimes I will use one while cooking dinner. I'll dry my hands on it, then use the damp cloth to wipe up the counter, then wipe out the pan, etc. Most paper towels can be rinsed out and used for more than one thing. Oh, and I use the recycled paper towels. Did anyone mention that? At any rate, no one is NOT impacting the environment at all, unless one is an Aborigine living in the bush, and therefore I find it okay to still use paper products on occasion. I think being conscientious of what I use is the most important factor. Phew. Didn't plan to rant!

Oh, airheartscheese, you didn't mention your sustainable method for cleaning up the two/seven dogs' messes?

Why would anybody feel bad about using a paper towel? The eco-maniacs polluting this thread provide no solid, fact-based arguments against their use. I suppose you've all given up toilet paper as well? Eco-friendly paper products are widely available, so stop your pissing and moaning!

I am impressed and probably not even qualified to respond in this crazy intense debate!

-I am a non-paper towel person.
-I have a bin of lots of different types of cloths to suite various needs - terry, t-shirt, microfiber, etc.
-They are stored in a separate hamper until I'm almost completely out, then I do one hot load every month or so.
-I use a leftover napkin once in a while, usually for raw egg.
-I try not to make messes, really
-I don't have kids or pets or snarf bacon or slap around a lot of raw meat, so I can understand how it's reasonable that other types of households have a roll or two around for those exceptional things.

We don't use paper towels, but I admit to grabbing and using paper napkins in a similar way as I would paper towels.

the electricity all of us are using to read articles like these online is probably provided by 2 sources: coal or nuclear. so, folks, to be truly green, turn off those computers!

:)

i like to limit my consumption of paper towels because i am a cheapskate and because it's better for our world. but yes, i like to place my fried corn tortillas on paper towels every month or so and i also prefer to clean up barf using a paper towel. no one in bangladesh is going to die because of these choices. these things are so small that without addressing the huge endemic issues like getting clean electricity, buying fair trade items, and getting zero emissions cars available to the 2 billion or so drivers we have on our planet it's ridiculous to be concerned with 2 paper towels a week.

i know we teach small kids that all of our actions have effects, and a small, even tiny, attempt at changing the world is great for teaching community values and such - but we really need to focus on the big picture, too!

so turn off your computers and stop using ALL electricity until we are 100% converted to wind, solar, and geothermal plants only!
;)

Anyone who's ever worked for a law firm knows that even a smallish "electronic" law firm goes through reams of paper every single day. In comparison, all the freaking out/bruised righteousness about paper towels is a joke. Because none of this is really about the earth. It's about a bunch of well-off people posing for the most greeno cred.

Wanna be green about paper? Crack down on the sketchy plaintiff's firms that file total bullshit cases which just get thrown out anyway - but not before anywhere from 10 to 300 defendants throw reams of paper at the courts and each other. You do the math. Even if it's all 40% recycled paper (it's not), that adds up.

I'm going to go back to ignoring the stains on my stuff.

I'm with you. I have an inordinate number of kitchen towels, but for some things, paper towels are just better. Now, in fairness, I often use the dog as a paper towel for spills on the floor (his tummy is lined with titanium and he likes to eat anything that falls except celery and radishes), but the papers are still used routinely for the jobs they excel at.

I wanted to point out though, that for people who can their own food, paper towels are considered the SAFER way to wipe off jars before putting the lids on. This (and bacon) is what they get the most use on in my house.

This whole thing is hilarious. You can't pick up your dog puke but your parents, or certainly your grandparents, used cloth diapers when you were a baby. GET OVER IT. also, saying you don't like environmentalism because people are haughty about it has nothing to do with the issues of environmentalism, it only has to do with the person you are talking about and your reaction to that person. get over that one too.

It's sad that this even has to be pointed out, but: to everyone using "but Grandma and Grandpa did it this way!" as an argument... really? Just because something is old / been around longer, does not automatically mean it is better.

there is a thing called doing your bit fro the larger good...so none of the "eco-friendly" crowd is missing out on the big picture...and pl it is too strong to use a word like barking....get rational...and about toilet paper...hahaha....there is an entire world out there which healthier ways to manage that part ...ever reasearched it..."paper" means...any paper product...including disposable paper plates, cups etc..,,and yes if we actually understand economics..we will understand that what you do hee in the US has its impact in "bangladesh"..Also..there is something called working towards finding solutions at the individual level, and then on a larger scale as a society..and yes everything works..just that we need to give it some thought...and that needs some grey matter!

Ugh...finally! Glad to know I'm not the only one who [judiciously] uses paper towels.

On a side note, does anyone remember your parents reusing the insides of brown grocery bags to absorb bacon grease?

actually, Emika, saying that grandpa did it that way IS a good argument considering how fast climate change has accelerated in this generation. clearly, what they were doing had less of an impact that what we do now

Going "green" is always a comparative statement anyway. If something uses resources, it uses resources. Period. The trick it to pick the best use of resources.

There needs to be a study on the efficiency of paper towels vs. cloth towels. Does the amount of power, water, and detergent needed for frequent towel washing truly offset the amount of the materials consumed, energy used, and waste generated by paper towels?

It sounds like the writer wrote this pseudo research paper to as an excuse to explain her guilt of using paper towels.
(I call it pseudo, because there are no primary sources of information cited / concrete data included)

I'm not saying that we shouldn't care about the environment. I actually think the writer is great because she probably is much more "greener" than a lot of people out there. Just.. don't write an emotional self justification /confessiona and make it sound like a research paper.... It sounds like she's already doing the best she can, so she doesn't have to come up with excuses on why she can't completely give it up.

I just wanted to post that our house goes through two big 12-packs of paper towels a month. Also a ton of bleach down the sink drain. And you would not believe the cardboard our community cannot recycle (we create over 100lbs of cardboard waste a WEEK), and the two stuffed force-flex trash bags worth of plastic (and used paper towels) that gets thrown in the trash.

Because my mother is on peritoneal dialysis and if she gets an infection - from using "recycled" paper towels - she's dead. Her fluids that keep her alive are also safely packaged in a thick medical-grade plastic, wrapped in individual plastic wrappers, and come only two bags to a 12x12x16 box. She uses 3 bags of fluid a night. Plus all the tubing, wipes, bleach, paper towels, and needles. Oh and the needles are one use per bag, so she uses 3 needles a night, then they get pitched (biohazard box).

Y'all keep saving the planet and we'll keep my mom alive ;)

I keep one roll of this stuff in the cleaning closet, it's the recycled kind, so it's a bit better. I only use it for super-icky stuff, like... bugs or mice droppings on the floor, for example.

The one roll has lasted a year.

But my mum never used any, I never had the money buy "luxuries" while I was a student, so I never got used to it.

I can see how people need them, esp. when they have kids or pets. (We don't.)

This reminds me of a blog I read a couple of years ago from a father who spoke about why he could never cloth diaper because he thought poo was gross. Then he went on to cite "research" as to why cloth diapering was worse for the environment that disposables.

It seems if you want your decision to appear to be based on research, then first present the research (however flimsy), THEN pretend that that is why you concluded to continue use of paper towels (or paper diapers). Otherwise it's glaringly obvious that you are just justifying your doing what's easiest for you without much care for the environment.

It takes a lot of water to work paper fiber into a pulp and even more in the manufacturing and bleaching process. And of course water is not the only issue.... but you all know that.

But everyone is on a journey, and few of us started out (or are today) perfect.

Susan.
who hasn't bought paper towels in at least 5 years and found there were a lot of easy replacements if I challenged myself just a tiny bit (of course, I'm a dork who thinks it's fun to come up with creative ways of reducing. Cut up old cotton tshirts work for just about anything. Love them as dusters, hankies, baby wipes, napkins, or swiffer sweeper mopheads....)

I use paper towels. I use them everyday. I have a child, a cat and a dog. I cook bacon in the oven (which is the best way). I cook a lot of chicken and I think that sponges are the most disgusting disease laden things in the entire world. Even after you microwave them.
The reason why more people don't take environmentalists seriously? The holier than thou attitude by some of these posters. No one wants to be lectured to. Don't use paper towels if you don't want to. But I am not going to waste even more energy washing tons of rags in hot water and bleach and drying them in the dryer. It doesn't make sense.

I have never been more tired of a word than I am of "green"

let us all be more irresponsible and better still...start building a technically advanced version of the "Ark"... we will need it soon!

Hey, airheartscheese, this was freakin ROFL worthy: " Preserving space for agriculture is going to become increasingly important as the younger generations start to bring little ones into the world and our planet becomes even more populated with even more mouths to feed."

US census results are NOT hard to find. Our country is barely at the population replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman of childbearing age. That should delight you. We are not in the midst of a population explosion. All of Europe is at or below replacement rate (not counting illegals, but how do you count them?). Central and South American reproduction is way down. So basically the only real "breaders" are in serious third world countries where they are being killed off my AIDS, malaria, contaminated water, and war. That's good news for the environment, right (I speak with hateful sarcasm)?

I think we should all just stop bathing. I mean, even if you only spot-bathe with water collected in your yard from the occasional rain, you're still disrupting the environment, right? Let's just rub ourselves with those deodorant crystals. Unless that destroys some natural crystal deposit somewhere.

I apologize for being so snarky. But some of these comments are so antagonistic. And ignorantly so. Ugly combo.

Demand for resources is worldwide and the burgeoning population overall is going to effect us. Even in Canada and the U.S. there are too many people competing for too few resources. People starve and get killed by preventable diseases here too.

Julie, my point is that worldwide populations is NOT burgeoning. Birthrates around the world are falling, and on top of that we still have those big, ugly killers wiping out too many humans - often before they even enter the reproductive phase of their lives. This bodes ill for populations (if you like humans that is). Your argument about "demand for resources" would hold up better if you kept it to the relevant issue: people in third world countries really, really want clean water, electricity, and motor transportation, etc. Now you know. (BTW, I speak as someone who has already made the transition to cloth for about 90% of household use - and the tp is 80% p.c.waste, and the diapers are second hand or made from reclaimed fabric on a second-hand machine).

Central Am. birth rate - 2.7 children p. woman
South Am. birth rate - 2.4
Asia - 2.5 and this includes the more fertile west Asia
- East Asia -
"In the absence of immigration, such very low levels (under 2.1) of fertility bring population growth to a rather rapid end, and eventual reversal, and result in very significant population ageing."

- source for asian stastics and quote (paranthetical note mine):
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PCG/is_1_20/ai_105659428/?tag=content;col1

We are big believers in eating well, not to make less of an impact on the environment, but to fuel our bodies with the highest possible quality of food.

Meat isn't good for your body or for the planet. It's one of the biggest wastes of land and energy.

Oh, that should say "East Asia -
And demographic trends show very reliably that falling birth rates continue to fall. So where a region is at say, 2.7 they are only one generation (15-20 yrs) from a lower rate more like 2.1 or less.

This is ridiculous.

It's not the idea that paper towels are the worst conceivable sin against the planet that has garnered these reactions by the sustainability-aware. It's the flippant and condescending way the article (not to mention many of the comments..) is written and the non-facts used as the defense.

If the original poster wants to use paper towels- fine! If the original poster wants to be validated in that use and pretend there's really no alternative and no harm caused, then she'd better put her head back in the sand where it's safe.

Being more environmentally conscious is about little choices and incremental shifts, not about being perfect. That said, lying to yourself is unhelpful, and using your wounded ego as an excuse not to aim a little higher is just lame.

"Being more environmentally conscious is about little choices and incremental shifts, not about being perfect. "

right said robin1302...it is high time pople stopped hating the eco-concious breed and understood actual implications of going green!

It's funny to count the number of first-time posters in this thread. I have a sneaking suspicion they were all directed here by some "more eco-cred than thou" site as a pissing contest of sorts. The last thing the world needs is a bunch of self-absorbed, egotistical, myopic (as if paper towels are even in the top 50 threats to our environment), and preachy assholes. Do you really think your attitude draws people to the green movement? If you want to make a positive difference in the world, find a local artisan who weaves organic hemp ropes and fashion yourself some nooses.

The other day a good friend of mine washed her hands a my kitchen sink then held them up as if to say "where's the towel?" When I told her to go ahead and use a paper towel she reacted as if I was an enviro devil luring her into committing some great sin, you know like when the serpent supposedly coaxed Eve into biting into the apple. So I did a little research, and no, my sources aren't blogs and paper industry websites. According to the Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service, thanks to our modern approach to tree farming, we currently have about the same amount of "sustainable forest" (750 million acres) in the U.S. as we had in 1900. Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/.

And it's worth noting that on top of this, the U.S. has more than a million acres of diverse biology forest preserved in the form of parks and wilderness areas, five times as much as it had set aside in 1900. That's a 10% increase in guaranteed biologically diverse forested land since the turn of the last century. One could make a logical argument that using paper towels actually results in a net gain in forested land by increasing the demand for pulp derived products from tree farms.

As for the landfill issue, we are a long way from running out of places to bury our garbage in most of the U.S. Check out one of NASA's nighttime photos from the shuttle or satellites to confirm the truth of this.... like water, the powers that be have a vested interest in convincing the rest of us that we need to conserve our obviously abundant resources so that they can continue to build developments and towns with a minimal commitment to provide for the basic, required infrastructure.

Since I was a kid in the 60's we have supposedly been in a continual drought here in California, and meanwhile, since then, tens of millions of new people have somehow been provided for in our state. And yet when a normal five to ten year dry spell is underway I'm supposed to let my lawn die and risk the health of my family by using germ-laden cotton cloth towels to dry my hands and dishes. Meanwhile, at least 10% of the world's pesticides are used to produce cotton, the most popular alternative to pulp product-based paper towels, and cleaning cotton towels properly requires massive amounts of dangerous chemicals such as bleach and high powered soaps, along with very hot water.

The actual truth here is this: Things are not always as they seem. In fact, if the topic seems too "pat," as in the paper versus cotton towel issue, then the situation is likely to be very different from what we are being told.

As for environmental impact, there is likely very little difference in the use of paper versus cotton towels. Where the real difference lies is in the sanitary qualities of the towel itself... frankly my number one concern is to limit, to the fullest extent possible, the biology contained in the towels, cloth napkins, etc.

whew! What a boil you popped.

My advice... just think before you act. The world would be a much better place if people just followed that simple rule instead of hopping on whatever shaming train rolls by.

Do the best you can folks and we'll be alright.