Let’s use cloth towels instead of paper towels! House cleaning with cloth towels is an important change to incorporate into any sustainable lifestyle. Cleaning this way is important for more reasons than you may think! Here’s why:
- Paper towels use a whole stream of resources from the trees that compose them to the packaging and fuel necessary to ship them.
- Depletion of resources and harmful emissions are significant causes of deforestation and global climate change.
One study reported that one paper towel dispenser contributes 4.6 tonnes of CO2 to global warming over the course of five years.
If you have to buy paper products, it is important to choose options that are made from recycled material and don’t waste as much material. But, the best choice is to eliminate the paper towel all together and reuse washable fabric alternatives.
Washing your towels
Remove mildew and bad smells from your towels and make them look like new.
What you’ll need:
1 cup of white vinegar
1/2 cup of baking soda
HOT water
* Place your towels in the washing machine, using the hottest water available. Add the white vinegar.
(Do not add detergent, fabric softener, or any other products at this time. Run the washer.)
* Leave towels in the washer and refill again with HOT water and half-cup of baking soda.
Run through another entire wash cycle.
* Dry the load in the dryer using a high heat setting. Towels should be thoroughly dry when you pull them out. If they’re not dry, put them back in, or move towels immediately outside and hang them in the sunlight.
Now your towels are fluffy, soft, fresh and clean!
What towels are best?
*Huck Towels – for absorbing
*Microfiber Cloth – for dusting and sensitive surfaces
*Cloth Napkins – picking up spills
*Other assorted cloths for cleaning including cut up old shirts, old cloth diapers/inserts or old socks (for younger kids to use in cleaning and polishing)
Cloth towels may use more resources in the manufacturing of each one but the ability to wash and reuse makes them a much more durable choice for your home than disposable paper. Make a difference by making the switch!
Happy cleaning.