Why There's No Need For Paper Towels In The Kitchen Anymore

You don't need to fill up your garbage bag with wads of paper towels when you clean your kitchen. There is a better solution out there: rags. Rags and dishcloths have always been an eco-friendly alternative to paper towels thanks to their reusability. That said, paper towels can still be handy to ensure your cast iron pans don't rust when they're put away. 

Paper towels may be compostable – depending on whether your local composting services accept them, if you used any cleaning chemicals, and what you cleaned up with them. However, the plastic they are shipped in and the process of making them are problematic. According to a study from MIT, 15 grams of CO2 were emitted in the production of just two paper towels. If you use two paper towels on each small mess, that's 15 grams of CO2 per mess. 

Reusable towels are also made from plant fiber, and the process of making them emits carbon, but you can reuse them. Over a dishcloth's lifetime, the CO2 per mess keeps going down. Yes, washing uses water and energy, but tossing a dishcloth in with your regular hot-water laundry keeps the impact minimal. (Martha Stewart recommends you replace your kitchen towel weekly.) If you cut up old t-shirts to use as rags, you not only extend the life of a processed plant material and cut down on emissions, but you also save money. A rare win for the environment and the wallet.

We were using towels in the kitchen long before paper towels. In the 1800s, people would cut up flour or sugar sacks to use in the kitchen. It wasn't until the early 1900s that the Scott Paper Company had a machine that accidentally produced thicker-than-normal toilet paper, which it sold as "sani-towels" for public restrooms. In the 1930s and 1940s, businesses making paper towels found a way to market to homemakers, and since then, they have been a necessity. Companies need to grow every year to appease their investors, and paper towels are single-use only — which means you have to consistently buy more. Dishcloths or your own rags, on the other hand, are only purchased once.

To be fair, washing machines were not as efficient when paper towels became the norm. Since 1973, new washing machines have become 70% more efficient, with ENERGY STAR machines even more so. Tossing a kitchen towel in the laundry has less of an impact than ever before. Now's the right time to follow the lead of professional chefs, who swear by their versatile kitchen towels, and cut back on single-use, disposable towels.