How to Use Fewer Paper Towels
When it comes to creating less waste, there are some habits that are harder to get rid of than others. Take paper towels, for example. They’re pretty damn comfortable, but the convenience comes at a price.
Paper towels are rarely recycled due to their poor quality , unlike newspapers, which can still be recycled into a range of other items, including egg cartons and cereal boxes.
After use, paper towels also tend to get dirty and therefore end up in landfills. For this reason, it is often advisable to compost paper towels (as long as they are free of chemicals and grease) or simply cut back on their use altogether.
Use the shake and fold rule
If you want to cut down on the use of paper towels in a public toilet, airport, or office, it’s pretty straightforward: use an air dryer whenever possible, although these dryers aren’t always as efficient as you’d like. But what if this is not possible?
Joe Smith, an Oregon-based waste activist, spoke at an independent TED conference on the art of using paper towels (yes) and recommends a “shake and fold” rule to avoid using too many paper towels.
After washing, shake your hands for a few seconds to dry them, take one paper towel, fold it in half, and dry your hands with this folded towel. Folding the towel makes the paper more absorbent, Smith says, so you need fewer towels afterwards.
Here’s another tip from Smith: If you want to use a shorter paper towel, tear off the sheet immediately when it comes out of the machine; tearing off the paper often causes the machine to stop feeding the paper before it finishes. (This is true – I confirmed this in the office closet.)
Use rags, bedding, or microfiber towels.
If you want to reduce home use, use towels, rags, or bedding whenever possible to clean up any spilled liquid. You also don’t need to buy these items. “Look around your home for rags, old T-shirts or old sheets [and] cut [them] into squares to replace paper towels,” recommended Bea Johnson, founder of Zero Waste Home . There are also rags that are sold as paper- free towels in case you want to purchase a reusable alternative.
You can store a dirty rag in a container or bucket under the sink, or put a dryer in your kitchen or bathroom and wash it weekly, for example, after it shows visible stains. However, if they are particularly greasy, they cannot be reused after washing; if you wipe off grease, you can use a paper towel.
Polly Barks, a zero waste expert , wrote in an email that you can also color-code the towels to categorize them by type of use. “If you’re used to paper towels, it can be hard to get over the sharp rag factor, but the color-coded rag system [reduces] that feeling a lot,” she said. “Have a different colored rag for different purposes so you know you will never confuse toilet rags (blue) with kitchen counter rags (red) … and keep them in separate labeled containers.”
For more fragile items like glasses or a smartphone, you can also buy a set of reusable microfiber towels that are less abrasive to surfaces. These towels are also very useful for cleaning up debris on stoves.
Put the roll of paper towels out of reach
We use paper towels to clean up spilled liquid because they are very accessible when we sit on kitchen countertops. One of the ways I’m trying to curb my paper towel habit is by putting a roll of them in a cupboard or closet. Placing them out of reach makes me question their use.
Better yet, store these rags or bedding in the area where the paper towel holder would normally be. If you order food delivered frequently, you will likely get a ton of spare wipes that you can use too. And if you’re ambitious, try going without paper towels for a week at all – you’ll be surprised how easy it is to change a single habit by changing access to it.