America has been considered the “paper-towel capital of the world.” We spend more on the paper product than all other countries combined and rarely pause to think about the impact of that paper towel beyond cleaning up spilled milk. It’s ripe time we reevaluate our relationship with paper towels and instead consider another option: Unpaper Towels.
Unrolling Our Paper Towel Addiction
At the global level, paper towels make up roughly 254 million tons of trash annually. To bring things a little closer to home, Americans alone use a whopping 13 billion pounds of paper towels every single year. This equates to 6,500,000 tons of paper, or about 80 rolls per person per year.
So, are paper towels recyclable? Unfortunately, if you know how to recycle like a pro, you might realize that paper towels can’t make it into the recycling bin. Because of their short fibers and the fact that they’re often soiled with grease or food, they have the potential to contaminate the recycling process.
It’s clear that wiping up spills comes at a cost—and not just the impact associated with growing landfills and the methane that’s produced as they break down.
To make one ton of paper towels requires 17 trees and 20,000 gallons of water. This means that to satisfy our addiction, we need to cut down 110 million trees EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.
Fortunately, there’s a better option: Unpaper Towels.
What Exactly are UnPaper Towels?
Wait… what are Unpaper Towels? Unpaper Towels come in a variety of styles and sizes and have taken the sustainability world by storm. Marley’s Monsters is the brand behind the infamous paper towel alternatives, although many others have followed in their footsteps.
What are unpaper towels made of? Like the name suggests, Unpaper Towels aren’t paper at all. Instead, they’re made from cotton, organic cotton, or in some cases, bamboo or hemp.
If you’re wondering how to use unpaper towels, know that the process is just the same. When you have a pack of Organic Cotton Unpaper Towels in your kitchen, you can use it just like its paper counterpart. Unpaper Towels are suitable for glass surfaces, countertops, and much more—all without the unnecessary waste!
Simply toss the Unpaper Towels in the washer and dryer, then reuse! Once they reach the end of their useful life, they can be composted. For normal households, a 6 pk of Unpaper Towels is likely all that you need, but for those of us with messy pets or kiddos, there’s a 12 pk, too.
Why You Should Stock Up On Reusable Paper Towels—or Make Your Own
So, are unpaper towels worth it? YES! In fact, if every household replaced just one roll of paper towels with Unpaper Towels, it would save around 544,000 trees each year! Because we spend an average of $156 on paper towels a year, replacing that with a $12 or $20 pack of Unpaper Towels means significant financial savings, too!
With plenty of options out there—including both Reusable Paper Towels and Swedish Dishcloths—there’s really no reason you should ever go back to buying single-use paper towels. In fact, you don’t need to buy anything at all!
Some of the best Unpaper Towels are of the DIY variety. This can be as simple as old cotton t-shirts that are cut into paper towel-sized squares. If you want to get a little fancier, there are several DIY tips available on the internet.
Wipe Up Spills Without Leaving Our Planet Feeling Wiped Out
Unpaper Towels are just one of the ways we can clean up our cleaning essentials. They’re reusable, effective, and give your kitchen or bathroom some flair. Try a roll out today and never go back to your spill-wipe-dispose routine.
Check out our Cleaning collection below and use code BLOG10 to save 10% on your first order!
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