February '10 Full Moon

Rags to Riches

Let's talk paper towels. You know, that ubiquitous roll of TREE fiber hanging in nearly every kitchen in America? If you use Bounty, Viva, Scott, or some other mainstream brand, chances are you're using paper towels made of "virgin fiber". That's pretty much what it sounds like. The paper towels are made using tree pulp that has never been used for anything else. And we use more paper towels and other tissue products than any other country in the world. As a matter of fact, within the forest products industry, paper towels are a major part of the "tissue market", second only to toilet paper.

If every household in the US replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones (or reusable cloth rags) we could save 544,000 trees!

Paper "tissue" products with recycled content are now available in most grocery stores. Look for the products that have the most "post-consumer" content. What is that you ask? That is content that has worked its way down the stream to be used in the manufacture of a product. (For instance, recycled cardboard boxes may be turned back into pulp and used to make newspaper, toilet paper, or paper towels.) Many products contain 100% "recycled" content but that may simply mean they have used the trimmings or rejects from some manufacturing process. The content, in this case, has never really been used so it's not really recycled.

Some of the best choices are: 365 (Whole Foods), Earth Friendly, Fiesta, Green Forest, Natural Value, Seventh Generation, and Trader Joe's. Check out the NRDC site for more information.

Once you start looking for these paper towels you may notice that some of them are brown, or at least not as bright white as your old brand. That's also a good thing since it means they haven't used chlorine to bleach the paper, which is also bad for the environment.

And when you're finished with those paper towels, don't throw them into the trash! They don't need to go into the land fill. Paper towels are easily composted. If you have your own compost pile or worm bin, just toss them in with your food scraps. And for those of you who live in a place that now allows food waste in the yard waste bin you can put the used paper towels in there too.

Finally, the best thing you can do is stop using paper towels altogether. Every roll you buy contributes to the demand, even if they're recycled. How about trying to go paperless in your kitchen? Here's a great blog posting with suggestions on how to make it work for you and your family. And think of the money you'll save!

Remember... 544,000 trees!