By Emma Hess
Did you know the invention of paper towels was completely accidental? Many are familiar with the Scott Paper Company which founded toilet paper all the way back in 1879. In the early 20th century, the Scott plant received a railroad car’s worth of paper rolled too thick for toilet paper. Instead of scrapping the whole load, one of the founders used a story he heard about a school using small pieces of soft paper to hand out to students with runny noses during flu season as an entrepreneurial opportunity. The paper was perforated into small towel-sized sheets, called Sani-Towel, and sold to hotels, restaurants, and railroad stations for use in restrooms. It wouldn’t be until almost 30 years later before paper towels were popularized for household kitchens the way they are today.
Many remember the paper goods shortage in the spring of 2020, with limits on the number of packs of toilet paper and paper towels a person could purchase during a trip to the grocery store. It was during this time that I began evaluating my own usage and dependence on paper towels.
Using paper towels for daily tasks had become second nature. Cleaning the bathroom? Use paper towels. Wipe up a spill? Use paper towels. Dry my hands? Paper towels. There was no alternative in my mind. That was until I began doing more research on the Zero Waste Movement and its growing popularity. I’d slowly been making changes to my personal care routines for a few months before the pandemic hit. With the introduction of a solid shampoo bar, bar soap, and natural loofah, my shower set up was taking up less space and creating less waste. What was more challenging were the household items I shared with other people, but it proved to be a worthwhile endeavor.
In order to better evaluate our household waste, I did a trash audit: the process of collecting and identifying the amount and types of waste being generated by an individual, household, or organization in order to determine which items could be recycled, composted, or reused.
The idea behind a trash audit is pretty simple. You won’t know what you need to change unless you analyze the waste you’re already creating. After conducting a trash audit of my own, paper towels, food scraps, and food packaging were my main culprits of waste. I was excited to try composting and gardening to reduce food-related waste, but very unsure of how to ditch my paper towel addiction. That was until I came across a fantastic quote from Anne Marie Bonneau’s 2019 blog, author of Zero Waste Chef.
“We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
It was no longer my mission to completely rid myself of paper towels but to ease the transition in a maintainable fashion. With conscious consumerism in mind, there was no sense in purchasing new materials if I didn’t have to. I scurried over to my t-shirt drawer, threw everything on the bed and started to sort. In college, I had gathered an unhealthy supply of t-shirts from fraternity, charity, and volleyball events. They were bursting out of the drawer and at the time, I was deciding between donating or recycling them. It was during this time that I began shifting my mindset from “these have served their purpose” to “these are ready for their next purpose.” Each shirt was laid out on the floor and cut into sections, some small, some large, even the sleeves were put to use. After folding, I placed the stack of 30 or so right next to the kitchen sink. I kept one spare paper towel roll under the sink for cat accidents (we all make compromises and reusing a cat puke-soaked rag was mine).
At first, it took some retraining of habits to get used to them. There was no longer a roll of paper towels sitting on the counter, so I didn’t have anything to reach for besides the reusables at this point. Any time I needed to clean the counters, I grabbed a piece of t-shirt. Napkin? T-shirt. Spilled coffee? T-shirt. It became a habit fairly quickly. I collected them in a washable pail liner and threw everything into the wash when we were low. Soon, it became very satisfying knowing the number of paper towels we had avoided. I’d usually fill a grocery store sized plastic bag with used paper towels after cleaning the house on a weekly basis. Now, I do a small load of laundry once a week.
Reusables in general save you money! I didn’t spend one penny to turn my t-shirts into rags. You could go out and purchase reusable paper towels if you’d like. There are a ton of lovely options from small businesses with beautiful patterns, but it’s not a necessity. I wanted to take a closer look at the cost breakdown between continuing to purchase disposable paper towels compared to a few packs of reusables. With the average American adult using 80 rolls of paper towels a year, let’s do some math on how much a two-person household could save in one year.
COST BREAKDOWN:
Costco Paper Towels 12-Pack: $22.99
$22.99 x 13 (technically 13.3333333) = 156 rolls for $298.87
$298.87 a year for a two-person household
Marley’s Monsters UNpaper Towels 12-Pack = $38
$38 x 3 packs = $114
3 packs would give you a healthy supply and last multiple years
$114 for 2-4 years of use for a two-person household
With three years of reusable paper towel usage under my belt, the savings have added up quickly. My trash bin is not nearly full when the truck comes and that’s a celebration in and of itself. While this practice works for me and my two-person household, it should be adapted to work for your unique circumstances. Whether you go all in and ditch the paper towel, or simply lessen your daily usage, you’re doing right by our planet with either choice you make.
Emma Hess is the owner and founder of BYOC Co. (Bring Your Own Container), a refill station and zero-waste shop with locations in Ann Arbor and Plymouth. Growing up in the neighboring city of Chelsea and a 2020 graduate of the University of Michigan, Hess enjoys helping the surrounding communities reduce their single-use plastic consumption by refilling containers with eco-friendly, plastic-free household cleaning and personal care products. She’s also an avid hiker, backpacker, gardener, and cat lover.
