This is purely an opinion and maybe a discussion point, but I’m pretty much opposed to the extended use of paper towels.
I have been at the homes of friends and watched in amazement as they roll off yards of paper towels to wipe up things and then throw the whole mess in the trash. The whole time I’m puzzled why they didn’t just wipe it up with rags.
When I use paper towels
I try to use rags as much as possible and try to limit my use of paper towels to things that are too gross to put in the washing machine.
In the end — there aren’t that many things that can’t go in the washer and it takes me forever to go through a roll of paper towels. I use paper towels to cool some cookies on when removed from the oven. Other than that — like I said, it takes me a long time to use a roll of paper towels.
Camping is an exception, since disposability is plus..
When I don’t use paper towels
This all needs to be balanced out with the fact I have an abundance of rags. My mother was a smoker and when she died I brought her towels home and watched them disintegrate along the edges that had been exposed to the smoke. (Boy — is that an anti-smoking example or what? If it eats fabric what the heck is it doing to lungs?) All those towels have been reduced to rags.
But my non-use of paper towels is also based on my use of toilet paper to clean up the rare instance of dog poop in the house. I figure that can be flushed down with the rest of the poop.
Dog vomit? I clean it up with rags and wash them. Even oily crap from working on automotive stuff. I wash them alone, but I wash them.
My reasoning
I don’t want to add to the mountains of landfill with piles of paper towels from my home. I don’t want to spend the money on rolls of paper towels when I have an ample supply of rags in my house.
My thinking could be all wrong — maybe the energy to heat the water, the water used to wash the rags, and the power to run the dryer to dry the rags is far worse than paper towels in the landfill.
I’m just doing what I think is best for the environment and I thinking reusing beats constant disposing almost every time.
