I've got a thing about reusing tea towels without washing them. I let the dishes dry on the drainer. A constant bone of contention in the B3 household😕
I use old rags - ex-bathroom towels etc to clean and dry surfaces, floor etc. It only being me in the house, I don't use that many of them, and just throw them in with the next wash (about once a week). I do find paper towels super-useful for cooking processes, but I try and use cloth when possible. I keep a stack of rags next to the sink. With a very eco washing machine and Ecover and tracking low carbon times, I figure it's a good compromise. I compost the recycled paper towels.
I never hand dry crockery or cutlery as air drying is easier and more hygenic.
No, I ihaven't seen a data analysis of comparable choices. I suspect there are too many variables - depending on how the household works - types of washing machine, water temp, amount of towels used, kids in the house etc. Maybe it's too hard to compute meaningfully.
If tea towels are only used for drying clean dishes then I wash about once a week. Oily kitchen roll in bin. Hand towel max 1 week. Hot water and dishcloth for wiping everything. Never use sprays except for burnt on on the hob. Learnt at my mother's knee. (We even had hankies made from ripped up cotton garments for general, not for 'outside').
For some years I did try cotton hankies instead of tissues but I found it too much of a faff as I have allergies and use a lot. Still, a hell of a lot of virgin trees are cut down for stupid things just for bog roll, tissues and cardboard. Criminal, really. Why they can't make cardboard boxes out of purely recycled paper is a mystery to me.
For some years I did try cotton hankies instead of tissues but I found it too much of a faff as I have allergies and use a lot. Still, a hell of a lot of virgin trees are cut down for stupid things just for bog roll, tissues and cardboard. Criminal, really. Why they can't make cardboard boxes out of purely recycled paper is a mystery to me.
Trees used for paper production come predominantly from sustainable woodland i.e. fast growing conifers. Not great for biodiversity but not overly destructive either. Many of the boxes used for deliveries that we receive are made from recycled paper, but presumably there either isn't enough or it's not cost effective.
I haven’t used kitchen roll for (many) decades and have rarely missed it. I stopped as much for financial reasons as environmental when anything not completely necessary just didn’t make the shopping list.
I do little if any frying at home so don’t need them for draining fried foods. We use separate tea towels for the dishes and “kitchen roll” jobs and also eco-cloths and they get thrown into the wash with everything else. There aren’t enough to increase the number of loads we do. When to sad to use anymore the tea towels become rags for car washing/painting jobs etc and the eco cloths are compostable.
I use cotton hankies but OH prefers tissues as he gets hay fever. I used to compost the tissues but he has anti allergy ones now and I’m not so keen on them going into the compost.
I also stopped using aluminium foil maybe 4-5 years ago. That took a bit longer to get used to although I don’t think I was a big user.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
KT53 said: Trees used for paper production come predominantly from sustainable woodland i.e. fast growing conifers.
It's alarming what can count as "sustainable woodland". Large swathes of eastern Europe and south America are being stripped out to make way for plantations. I used to look for "sustainable" marks on wood products but I think the whole thing is bunkum.
I don't use foil any more or cling film and don't miss it. Pots and jars work just fine.
I probably do rely on paper towels too much. I do think they are amazingly useful when you need them - cat poo, blood, oil.
I'm sure the equations are quite different once small kids and babies are in the family mix. I don't use wipes, but I can see they are a life saver with babies.
Dare I say we use a dishwasher but for wooden chopping boards I hand wash and air dry. We are going solar soon so even if I did use a teatowel it will soon be renewable energy washing it (although producing the batteries used to store the energy might be questionable?). I use paper towels for stuff I don't want in my washer like grease which goes in the bin and into landfill I suppose. We have a dog which demands paper usage sometimes. Makes me realise teatowels are mainly used to get a shine after wiping the tops with a dishcloth!
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Trees used for paper production come predominantly from sustainable woodland i.e. fast growing conifers. Not great for biodiversity but not overly destructive either. Many of the boxes used for deliveries that we receive are made from recycled paper, but presumably there either isn't enough or it's not cost effective.
I use cotton hankies but OH prefers tissues as he gets hay fever. I used to compost the tissues but he has anti allergy ones now and I’m not so keen on them going into the compost.
I also stopped using aluminium foil maybe 4-5 years ago. That took a bit longer to get used to although I don’t think I was a big user.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham