Rollover Paper Towel
Posted by Greenbee on October 24, 2010
How did we ever survive without the paper towel? We use and throw them away left and right. Many of us search the weekly ads and snatch up paper towel rolls by the cart full. From drying our hands to cleaning surfaces, the average family has found themselves dependent on the roll of quick and easy clean up. How many rolls of paper towels does the average family go through in a week? a month? or a year? We tell ourselves that the paper towels are a small paper waste and will break down in the city dump… right?
I did a small Google search and found dozens of sites all stating that over 3000 tons of paper towels are thrown away a day.. a day! The paper towel industry has convinced us through commercials that it is safer to use a paper towel when drying your hands, wiping a surface, or cleaning up a spill. Commercials show you images of the germs that are left behind by a sponge vs. a paper towel. They feed the germaphobes inside us that paper towels are a must if you care for the health and well being of your family and we all want to be good parents… right?
Everyday we use things over and over and don’t dispose of them as carelessly as paper towels. We manage to take baths and brush our teeth without creating a lot of waste. So how can we hang up the paper towels but keep our germa-phobic minds at ease?
One of my early green awareness moments came after washing my hands. I went to reach for the paper towel and paused. I realized that after cooking and cleaning the counter tops I had gone through 1/3 a the roll of paper towels. I found myself with dripping hands fighting the urge to grab just one more. I walked away with a damp shirt, but peace of mind. Surely there must be a better way.
One of the first steps I took was extremely simple – I put a kitchen towel near the sink. I had them before but they were purely for decorative purposes. I purchased basic white kitchen hand towels. You can install a towel hook or holder into the wall as many of us have in our bathrooms. I did not want to drill into the wall so I simply purchased a HOOK OVER CABINET
. I picked white towels so that I could wash them with the white loads of laundry and when adding the beach to whiten and brighten I was also disinfecting the towels as well. But what about wiping down counter tops and cleaning up spills? I can’t use the same towel I used to dry my hands.
Next, I purchased about 3 dozen white wash cloths for a mere 7.00 and with them folded in half placed them on a corner of the counter top. These towels were to be used for clean ups. I soon purchased a Grocery Bag Holder
and loaded it up with the hand towels so now anytime I need a hand towel I just grab one from the bottom of the dispenser. What ways have you found to cut down on daily waste such as paper towels?
