So the other day my poor wife- the one who has to endure my ramblings and crazy projects on a daily basis- went out for groceries. We had something a little special on that particular day's list.
A roll of paper towels.
What's the big deal about a roll of paper towels you ask?
That was the first roll we purchased in about five years.
We just don't use the things much anymore. Like hardly ever. Once in a while, I may drain some bacon on a sheet. Or I may use a sheet to swab some Crisco around a pan while baking, although I usually just use a clean finger these days. Once a month or so I use a few to clean the glass door on the wood stove.
And that's it. For all the other tasks you may use a paper towel for, we use something else. I haven't actually measured the number of days a roll lasts our household, nor have I kept a careful journal, detailing the specific task each paper towel was used for. But the above is a pretty close summary. And the roll we are currently on has just recently passed the one year mark. I know because I opened it last year the first time I needed to clean the wood stove's glass door.
Yeah, I'm pretty happy that we use so few paper towels.
So, why do we do it (or not do in this case)?
Because the pulp and paper industry sucks ass. They suck environmentally, and they suck economically. They suck ass locally, and they suck ass globally. And for all that sucking, paper towels pretty much suck at sucking up the actual messes daily life doles out. You can embrace the suck if you like. I have a different way. First a bit more about why they suck.
On the environmental side, paper towels (and most other paper products) are the Freddy Krueger of household consumables. The cleaning nightmare you never wake from. All along their life cycle, and even after their very short useful life, they cause environmental issues.
I'm not writing a term paper here, but consider just a few bits of info for me. The average American uses 741 pounds of paper, per person, per year, according to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). That is a plethora of pulp, my paisans. You've got gobs of gasoline and other fuel cutting down the trees, running the machines, making the trucks go, first to the mill, then to the store, then to the dump. You've got water mixed with bleach to make all the pulp white, water that is then wasted and dumped somewhere. And chlorine that becomes a variety of dioxins, in the air, in the water, in the paper towels themselves. Dioxins are bad enough, but the paper and pulp industry pumps out a bunch of other nasty cancer causing chemicals as well. Besides the cancerous stuff, the industry as a whole is the third largest industrial emitter of global warming pollution.
Blech. Those clean looking, quilted, white paper towels you decide to clean with aren't looking so clean after all.
Then there is the economic side. Maine is the Pine Tree State. Logging and paper has always been big here. But only as long as short term profitability was assured for the mills. Once the natural resources were extracted, the human resources were discarded as well. I'll spare you a long winded rant on the dangers of capitalism and the need to temper its forces with a regulatory conscience. Instead I'll just say that everything I learned in multiple classes on business ethics in college seems to be lacking in what has happened to, and what is left of the mill towns scattered about the state.
There's more, but that should give you a good idea why we decided to try and stop using a product that causes so much destruction. A product you use ONCE and then throw away, so it can then continue along it's path of destruction.
So what do we do instead? I mean, paper towels are pretty ubiquitous here in the average US kitchen. Don't we need them to maintain clean and healthy kitchens and homes? The short answer is no. Not at all.
We started just by changing some habits. Using a sponge to wipe up spills from counters and floors. Using a different sponge for cleaning bathrooms. Then investing in some dish towels to dry dishes, wipe counters and tables. Eventually we started using towels for more and more chores around the house. The oldest and most stained looking would get downgraded to bathroom duty, and eventually to basement rag status, good for wiping oily dipsticks and other dirty tasks.
Somewhere along the way we also discovered cellulose based cleaning cloths. I think the first ones were a gift from my parents. These things rock. Much more absorbent than a paper towel, cloth towel, or sponge. You can sanitize them in the microwave in seconds if you like. I just toss them in the wash. Also much stronger than a paper towel. And like the cloth towels, I can use these things over and over and over and over.
"BUT WAIT!" you say... wood based cellulose- isn't that just a fancy way of saying pulp? Yes, yes it is. And these cellulose cloths could give rise to many of the same environmental concerns as the regular pulp industry. But the first thing that sets them apart is the fact that you use them more than once. That's a biggy. One of the simplest and best things you can do for the environment, locally and globally is to simply consume less. You go through those single use paper towels much more quickly than you will a reusable cellulose cloth. So, you're going to go through a lot more forest, and cause a lot more pollution doing it.
But, you can do even better depending on the type of particular cloth you chose to use. My current favorite is the SKOY cloth. According to the company's website, their cloths are chlorine free and 100% biodegradable and will compost in 5 weeks. I'm guessing that means it will compost in a hot pile- like the giant compost piles at your municipal facility. But hey, that's better than a landfill. And no chlorine? That means lots less pollution in the form of those nasty dioxins. They also use water based colors and inks. And yes, I like the bright colors.
Then there are the economic advantages. These things will outlast many rolls of paper towels. They pay for themselves pretty quickly. So, an obvious advantage for my local economy- the one comprised of my wallet. Globally, I have to guess at. The website says they are manufactured in Europe. But the actual company is US based, owned and run by two stay at home moms. Yay for more women in business! Also, according to their website, their factory and it's environmental efforts have become a reference for other companies trying to achieve the same goals for reducing waste and energy use and recycling production byproducts. Good stuff all around.
The last thing I really like about them I didn't find out about until I actually got some. According to the minimal, plastic free, totally recyclable packaging they arrived in, the actual packaging is done in the US, in a facility that mainly employs folks with disabilities.
Man, what a difference.
I could chose a single use product responsible for pollution and other environmental misery from it's collection as a resource, through its production and use, and continuing even after it has been thrown away. One made by an industry responsible for disabling numerous ecologies and economies.
Or...
I could support a couple of stay at home moms and their employees, using a product that reduces my personal consumption. A product that reduces pollution, both through its manufacture and its re- usability. A product that saves me money. A product that puts differently abled folks to work, attempting to preserve and support both ecological diversity and human diversity.
Yeah. That's a tough choice.
So, do you think it's time for you to change the way you 'roll'? Even if you aren't ready to give up your paper towels, you could start by picking a brand that uses non-chlorine bleaching methods and post consumer recycled content. They aren't that much more expensive. Especially if you start changing your habits. Grist published a little run down of various brands. And the NRDC gives a more in depth look- both at paper towels, and other stuff you should probably know about the paper and pulp industry. Switch just one roll of virgin paper towels for a brand with post consumer recycled content and you'll start saving trees. Heck, even if you just avoid Bounty and Viva- you'll be avoiding the worst environmental offenders on the supermarket shelves.
Of course, I think you can do better. You work on that. I'll work on convincing my wife we can eliminate toilet paper and paper tissues from our lives next.
Poor woman.
