Yes, I’m a paper towel-aholic. But I haven’t always been. My kitchen drawers are stacked high with cloth towels, many frayed and bleach stained, just begging to be used – and reused. They are also proof of my many years of good behavior. So how did I end up a paper towel-aholic? Where did I go wrong?
Well, here’s the thing. About a year ago, my husband and I were blessed with a little girl. And as any parent knows, kids come with big messes. After each meal or snack our dining room needs to be decontaminated by a HAZMAT team. Paper towels are my HAZMAT team. They quickly and easily clean up the floor, walls, high chair and even my daughter’s face. But each time I reach for the paper towels, the voice in the back on my head says ‘this is wasteful!’ And that voice is right.
Did you know:
- The average U.S. household uses about 2 rolls of paper towels each week. An average economic cost of $100 – $200 per year.
- Traditional paper towels are made from virgin tree fiber. It takes 17 trees and 20,000 gallons of water to make one ton of traditional paper towels. And since the U.S. uses an estimated 13 BILLION pounds of paper towels each year, that equates to about 300,000 trees and 350 million gallons of water used per day to fuel our use of paper towels. This is a major issue for environmental sustainability.
- Each day, 3,000 tons of paper towels are sent to a landfill where they will take up valuable space and release methane gas as they decompose.
- 100% recycled content paper towels are an often used green alternative, but they are still a threat to environmental sustainability. Recycled content paper towels still require tremendous resources to manufacture/transport and eventually find their way into our landfills.
- Most paper towels, traditional or recycled content, are bleached with toxic chemicals to achieve their white coloring.
So with all things considered, today I recommit myself to using my drawer full of frayed and bleach stained towels. They may not be as easy to use as paper towels, but they will make me feel better about how I’m interacting with my environment. I will hide the paper towels under the sink so they will be out of sight and (hopefully) out of mind.
Maybe you aren’t a paper towel-aholic like me, but is there a small step you can take to make your lifestyle more compatible with environmental sustainability?