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Switch to reusable towels or dish cloths at home

Why This is Green

While it's green to use recycled paper towels instead of regular paper towels, it's even greener to ditch paper altogether. Eliminating paper towels from your daily routine can have huge environmental impact. The more of us giving them up, the better.

The NRDC says that virgin timber pulp and paper mills are major generators of hazardous pollutants like dioxins and other cancer-causing chemicals. And the Worldwatch Institute estimates that the pulp and paper industry is the 5th largest industrial consumer of energy in the world. Curbing your paper towel usage reduces this energy consumption, protects natural resources, and reduces air and water pollution. It also diverts waste from landfills (paper makes up nearly a third of all landfill content and discarded paper is one of the largest contributors of landfill methane emissions). Plus, not buying paper towels saves money.

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How To

Giving up paper towels is easier than you might think (bacon grease and pet messes aside). Going cold turkey makes the process easier; you’ll have nothing else to reach for.

Stock up on towels, dish cloths, and rags and keep them handy—in a kitchen drawer or a basket under the sink. Use until they need laundering, then wash with your next load.

There plenty of products on the market designed specifically as replacements for paper towels. In case you don’t have rags, invest in something new and reusable.

Sponges, another good alternative, can be sanitized in the microwave, boiled, or run through the dishwasher to kill bacteria before reuse.