A conversation with a friend of mine has prompted me to take a look at the history of an ordinary household product – paper towels. Her complaint was that paper towels, along with many other household goods, have become very expensive. Although I couldn’t agree more, I was a bit confused by the comment. While I do always have a roll of paper towels on hand, I personally don’t have need to buy them regularly because I use old kitchen rags for everyday uses like soaking up spills and cleaning.

The conversation caused me to wonder how many rolls of paper towels the average American household purchases in a month and what they use them for. I’ve decided to compare paper versus cloth products in price, usage, convenience,  aesthetics and sustainability.

First I dug up some interesting history on paper towels. The invention of the paper towel was actually a serendipitous accident. In 1907, a rail-car shipment of the wrong thickness of paper was delivered to the Scot company, the premier toilet paper manufacturer in the US. The president of the company remembered reading an article about a school teacher who gave a small, soft square of paper to each of her students as an alternative for wiping their hands on the communal bathroom cloth towel in hopes of stopping the spread of colds in her classroom.

Instead of taking a loss on the errant paper shipment, Mr. Scot decided to introduce the concept of a disposable sanitary towel, which was marketed to the medical industry. It’s of great interest to me that the actual consumer grade paper towel was not introduced to market until nearly twenty-five years later, in 1931. The simple fact was that people had no use for such a product because they used washable cloth rags.

I priced a roll of Bounty paper towels at $2.50, while a pack of white bar rags are about $10/dozen and you only buy them once. The paper industry needs you the consumer to absolutely believe that their product is not only indispensable but also that there is no alternative. Check out this old Bounty commercial. How many diners do you know of that rely solely upon paper towels to address their cleaning needs?

Watch Old Bounty Paper Towel at EncycloMedia.com

Ads are aggressively marketed to create a *perceived* convenience factor, but in the long run, the boasted conveniences are really an illusion – we the consumer throw that paper directly into our over-taxed landfill system. And don’t forget that a tree was most likely chopped down to make the pulp for that paper towel and millions of gallons of chemical-laden waste water was flushed directly into the water supply from the paper towel factory.

Kimberly-Clark is the global giant of the paper industry and also the leader in setting standards for paper industry sustainability, so I decided to check out the Kimberly-Clark 2007 Corporate Sustainability Report. K-C spent millions in 2007 to update the water systems at their factories and to convert their power systems to utilize methane gas from local landfills. They also buy virgin wood only from reputable sources to ensure that their raw materials aren’t coming from the rainforest. I applaud Kimberly-Clark’s efforts, but their report isn’t completely undisturbing.

In 2007, the company used 31% recycled paper, so that means that nearly an alarming 70% of all the material they require to make paper towels, facial tissues, diapers and dinner napkins came from trees, otherwise known as ‘virgin wood resources.’ Also, their most water conserving plant, located in Beech Island, South Carolina, recycles 60% of it’s water. They only flush a mere 40% of their waste water into the Savannah River, which is an important public water source. And another note of extreme interest to me is that the K-C’s Emerging Market division has it’s sights set on changing the way that half the world’s population views the use of paper products. Here’s a direct excerpt from the report:

We are seeing our fastest growth in developing and
emerging (D&E) markets in Asia, Eastern Europe and
Latin America. Within these markets, we continue to
focus on the BRICIT countries (Brazil, Russia, India,
China, Indonesia and Turkey). The BRICIT countries
represent half of the world’s population, but only six
percent of K-C sales.

 Our range of semi-durable paper towels,
developed to meet cultural norms in Latin America where
disposable paper towels are rarely used, have been highly
successful.

I suspect that families with small children use the most paper products, because a busy Mom will tell you her *perceived* truth – that it’s just less hassle and more sanitary to throw a snot-covered paper towel away rather than wash a cloth. That’s one way the utilization of paper becomes the norm within a household.

The Bounty website helps perpetuate the modern trend of American germophobic thinking by encouraging the belief that  rags are a breeding ground for billions of household germs that are just lurking, waiting to attack. While hygiene is truly of utmost importance, germs are not only ubiquitous in our world but a necessity for the existence of life. Be smart instead of fearful; washing your kitchen rags and towels regularly will keep you out of harm’s way.

I urge you to look at your household habits. By making the switch to durable cloth rags, dishtowels, napkins and handkerchiefs, you will not only save more green paper from your wallet, but you’ll be using a lot less in the way of resources. I *perceive* that a few extra hundred bucks in your household could go a long, long way.

Lately I’ve noticed everyone’s buzz word is ‘the economy.’ I’m always looking for small ways to save money and resources, so I’ve decided to regularly share some tips that work for me with my readers.

“The economy” this and “the economy” that. Many people I know who never used to question their purchase power at common places like the grocery store are starting to feel a pinch in their wallet when purchasing what they consider to be their basic needs. It’s my belief that yes, our economy is slowing down, but that these market fluctuations give us a chance to re-evalute the items we spend our money on – both big ticket items like cars as well as everyday goods like paper towels.

I have certainly noticed price increases over the years and especially this year. I’ve made it a life-long habit to always take the time to think through trends, ask questions, comparison shop and utilize creative solutions when it comes to what I need in my life. As dorky as it sounds, I really like comparing ounces and prices at the grocery store – many times the opportunities I find to save are astounding.

Being raised by my grandparents gave me an insight into running my household in older, simpler (and many times more effective!) ways too. An added bonus is that often times, simpler equals not only money saved, but also resources saved. We as a society need to try to save resources and encourage thrift, even if those endeavors are not currently valued, supported or demonstrated by our government and big business.

Of course, I understand that people don’t want to compromise their modern lifestyles in any way. The good news is that you don’t have to! It’s my belief that people genuinely want to learn small ways on how to spend less and use less, but often don’t know how or where to start. That’s because most of us were raised in a generation that hasn’t encouraged thrift.

We all just need to help re-educate one another in small ways. While a post on saving money with cloth towels vs. paper towels might seem over-simplistic, I’ll bet that there’s at least one person out there who maybe never thought of the difference between the two. That’s why I’ve started this category.

There is a woman who roams the western United States in an effort to repopulate wild areas with intentional planting of indigenous plants in the manner of the Native Americans of centuries past that was destroyed by our culture. I’ve not yet met her. I’ve heard much of her through mutual friends and I hope to someday meet her and learn from her.

But right now Finisia cannot do the work that is so important to her – and important for our planet. She was stopped last month by a forest service agent and told she could not do her planting. She resisted and is now sitting in jail in Idaho. I’ve heard through many a spirited story that Finisia has been jailed many times for her acts of civil disobedience – and always takes the incarceration with an open heart and mind.

But this time is different. Finisia is in trouble, I believe. She needs help. The authorities who don’t understand her and her ways are trying to put her in a mental institution, where they can forget about her.

This cannot happen. Please take some time to visit Finisia’s website – pullingforwildflowers.org. Donate money to this woman. I’m told that the fees to release her from jail and to fix her covered wagon only amount to approximately $550.00.

I recently read an article in an old National Geographic magazine from 1973 about a man who walked the west gathering and cooking native foods that grew in wilderness. The story of his passion made a national magazine! Now here we sit 35 years later . . . and one who is trying only to perpetuate this bounty of nature – and not hurting anyone in the process – is being held and labeled as insane simply for leading a lifestyle that is outside the economics of capitalism.

Finisia is in jail simply for the “transgression” of digging her hands in the earth in an effort for conservation.

Again, I ask you to donate to this brave woman. Pullingforwildflowers.org. If you’d like to send a letter of encouragement, please do so:

Finisia Medrano

Lemhi County Jail
Inmate Finisia Medrano
206 Courthouse Drive
Salmon. Idaho 83467

I hate to call my girlfriends out like this, but I’ve noticed that most of the women I know all still use some kind of tampon with a plastic applicator. This is a pet peeve of mine. While I’m still not to the point where I want to use a cup instead of a ‘feminine cigar,’ I highly recommend that all women use an applicator-free tampon. I will forever maintain that you will get to know your own body better if you don’t use an applicator – srrrrsly . . . if you can’t touch yourself, who can?

I read an article in Mother Jones Magazine last fall about how the world’s oceans and beaches are getting inundated by plastic applicator trash. We as women are supposed to be closer to Mama Nature, but the tampon industry, in an effort to market ‘useful’ things, have forgotten to remind us that these applicators often end up spoiling our land.

There’s not much of anything more nasty than walking the beach after a heavy rain and seeing a used applicator poking out of the sand. Just sayin’.

To-go boxes just confuse me. Why do restaurants insist on packing our food in these things? Often I find that they are much bigger than needed and in the end, they get tossed. It’s a waste. Don’t let the recycling emblem on a food box trick you. It’s nearly impossible to recycle styrofoam (or any kind of packaging that has food bits, grease, etc stuck on it.)

Being on the road, I have the capacity to go through many of these boxes. I always ask for my leftovers to be wrapped in a piece of tin foil. Sometimes the server looks at me as though I’ve sprouted a third head from my armpit when I ask for a piece of tin foil as opposed to a box. Sometimes I have to take extra time to explain that I do not want a to-go box. But it’s worth it.

Obviously, some wet items like soup or chinese food necessitate more packaging, but for that extra half-sandwich, this is a small and very effective way to cut down on waste. Plus, an item wrapped in foil fits easier into your purse or back-pack. I’ve even carried leftover pancakes tucked flat and neat inside my journal with this method. It’s easier to trek when your hands are free and you’re not lugging around a burdensome bag with a to-go box inside.

Remember – it’s all about re-education. People don’t think of solutions as it’s often easier to accept what is presented – and restaurants usually only give the option of a to-go box. Help re-educate in restaurants. Ask for your leftovers to be wrapped in tin foil. Or if you want to get really hard-core eco-friendly, ask for a newspaper wrapper. For now, tin foil works for me.