Throwing Away Paper Towels For Good

The Problem

“Americans use around 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year.”

This number kept ringing in my ear for days after my friend first mentioned it.

But even knowing this number, I couldn’t think of a viable reason to make the switch. Yes, I wanted to help the environment but at the same time, I knew that I didn’t have a proper replacement. And that’s because I am, unfortunately...very germaphobic.

I will never allow someone to sit on my bed in outside clothes, I cringe when I hear someone coughing behind me, and the thought of someone else using my own hand towel freaks me out. And yup, this was pre-COVID. The pandemic has only heightened this anxiety and panic cleaning.

Still, I wanted to find a way to be more environmentally friendly while also feeling comfortable with my cleaning habits.

I needed to find a middle ground.

The Solution

Only a week after this revelation, my mom and I walked into a little restaurant on the Upper East Side. It has a cute little bar with small tables on the side, they call it a gastropub. This spot quickly became my favorite because of the mac and cheese. But that’s beside the point.

Before we were about to leave, I walked into the too-tight bathroom and noticed they had these mini square towels above the sink. Below it, they had two bins – one for the reusable towels and one for trash.

Immediately, I told my mom and of course, she had to check it out herself. Right then and there, we decided to do the same.

Looking online when we got home, we found hand towels and bins that we could put in each bathroom to use instead. When the bin is full, we just toss it in the wash and start all over again.

The brand we first found is called SpaSilk. You can find these at many stores like Bed Bath and Beyond or get them delivered through their site linked below.

https://www.spasilk.com/

You can get these in practically any color or a fun pattern, like these blue and green ones, and to be honest they are much better-looking than paper towels anyway.

They are also 80% cotton, which is great for babies or anyone who has sensitive skin like me...which means not having to reuse a face cloth either. They don’t take up too much space because they are thin, while thick enough to dry your hands. And they are also perfect for gift-giving.

There was no reason for us not to make the switch.

This was about 3 years ago and we are both still using the same towels. Though she had to buy more because I stole some for my apartment...but the ones we first bought are still in use!

The Statistics

The majority of paper towel products are made from new materials. This means that trees are being cut down for the sole purpose of non-reusable paper products. Though some paper products are made from recycled material, there is still a lot of accumulative waste.

As said earlier, Americans use around 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year. From that number, the average person uses about 3,000 paper towels a year.

So, by using the terry cloth hand towels instead of paper, over three years I saved approximately 9,000 non-reusable paper towels from going into the trash bin. Now, if we are counting other members of my family that adopted the same practice...that comes out to 54,000 paper towels not wasted.

Diving even deeper into numbers, to make 1 ton of paper towels, it takes about 17 trees along with 20,000 gallons of water.

That is just the beginning of the problem with paper towels. Most paper towels are thrown into the landfill, which adds to America’s waste problem and increases the amount of methane released. According to the EPA, 17% of the methane that is emitted comes from landfills.

And from that, landfills are destroying our oceans. It destroys habitats, carries harmful chemical pollutants, and overall is a threat to marine life.

When you are looking for something easy and readily available like paper towels, it can be hard to see the repercussions that are far removed from yourself and your surroundings.

If just one person reading this article makes changes to reduce their carbon footprint by getting rid of paper towels, a difference will be made.

You are not too small to make a change and your actions have significance. Whether it is from cutting out paper towels incrementally or making other conscious choices to help the environment, a little bit can go a long way.