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Tired of piles of trash cans and paper towel waste in your kitchen and spoiled food in your refrigerator? We were there too. Welcome to part two of The Low Waste Kitchen, a series by food writer and avid home cook Sarah Karnasevich who shares field-tested strategies for reducing waste in real kitchens. Check out part one here.
Last year, as my family began an effort to reduce household waste, I began thinking about how I could develop more mindful kitchen habits. Many of the changes we’ve made since then, such as always carrying a reusable shopping bag and switching from disposable containers and lunch bags to fabric, glass and stainless steel, have been easy to implement. But soon after we began our journey to reducing waste, I realized that our dependence on paper towels may be the more complex piece of the puzzle.
Without even thinking about it, over the years (especially after becoming parents – so many sticky fingers and spills!) my husband and I became completely dependent on the ubiquitous scones on our counter. How serious are our habits? Let’s just say that every time we find the pantry under the sink unexpectedly empty, it causes a run to the 99-cent store and a bit of panic.
I know that in the grand scheme of wasteful household habits, this particular vice is a minor offense—after all, many paper towels are compostable (as long as they’re not stained with chemical cleaners or grease), and perhaps all it takes is It takes the same amount of water to produce one roll of paper towels as it does to clean the same amount of reusable paper towels.
However, there are other types of waste besides environmental waste. Every award my family tore away cost us several dollars that we will never get back. Also, I am appalled by the fact that every time one of us needs to wipe our hands or wipe up spills, the robot reaches for a paper towel, which is contrary to the care for the earth that we should be trying to cultivate.
So one day I decided to give up. I thought about cutting back on the amount of paper towels I buy monthly rather than weekly, or just reducing the number of paper towels I buy, but ultimately came to the conclusion that, as with many bad habits, giving them up can be the most successful way. So, one fateful weekend, I decided to announce to my family that the dwindling roll of paper towels on our countertop would not be replaced (gasp!).
To say the transition was completely smooth would be a lie: my husband’s departure was harder than mine, but he still lets out a grumpy whine from time to time. But more than seven months later, I’m happy to report that overall cutting paper towels out of our daily kitchen routine has proven to be less of a challenge than I expected, thanks to these three essential tools and one less important tool. Much more. Secret strategy. Ready to try to break this habit yourself? This works for me:
When we decided to try going paper towel-free, the first obvious question was what would we use instead—that is, what would we use instead every time we needed to catch a spill, dry our hands, or wipe down a counter. I knew I wanted everything we used before to be cheap, durable enough to withstand repeated washings, and made from natural fibers whenever possible. When I started Googling, I quickly discovered that there were plenty of attractive options, from reusable Swedish dish towels to classic lightweight flour sack rags. But I ended up finding my favorite solution in the most unexpected place: the drive-thru lane at Costco.
The Commuter Size 100% Cotton Unitex Towel sells in packs of 52 for about $20 and will provide several months of basic home cleaning services [Editor's note: We also found a similar package of towels on Amazon]. Although they’re advertised as car-washing tools, they’re actually just large, absorbent white cotton rags, not unlike terry towels, a utilitarian workhorse that’s a staple in professional kitchens the world over.
The key point is the fact that these puppies are very large: if you want this transition to be successful for you, you will always need to have plenty of towels on hand. After some trial and error, I took a two-pronged approach: I now keep a large bucket of 20+ clean towels under the kitchen sink and another towel container hanging on the pantry door.
This doesn’t mean there isn’t a learning curve. If I had it to do over again, I’d buy two lots of towels in different colors (like gray and white)—darker ones for bigger cleaning tasks and bigger spills, lighter ones for more delicate ones. Drying dishes and preparing food. But thanks to my laundry sorting mess, many of our white car towels turned pink, so we still managed to color them!
Yes, sue me, we used to set the table with paper towels. But now we don’t do that! Instead, we have several sets of cloth napkins that we change every night. These are practical napkins, not festive ones – no embroidery or luxurious fabrics. Plain fabrics (cotton, linen) and dark colors (I’m partial to navy) stand up to frequent washes and are better at hiding juice stains and grease stains that are sure to appear over time, especially if you’re like me. Yes, you have cute and dirty little children at home. You can buy a large set for little money online or at discount stores like Home Goods and TJMaxx, or better yet, check out what’s on sale at your local Goodwill (thrift stores tend to be very bad at stocking grandma’s discarded tablecloths )). . Do you really want to go? Assign yourself (or your kids) a weekend project and sew it yourself.
I won’t sugarcoat it: if you throw away paper towels, you’re dirtying a lot of rags every day. When they get dirty, you’ll need a place to put them. Cross-contamination (the unintentional transfer of harmful pathogens to clean surfaces) is a real health hazard in the kitchen and should be taken seriously. That’s why I separate the towels I use for cleaning and countertops from the towels I use for drying dishes and cooking, and try not to mix them. I also try to hang wet towels out to dry (moisture can encourage bacteria growth) and don’t use towels for more than a day. Instead, at the end of each day—or sooner if the towels are really dirty—I throw everything in a designated kitchen hamper: a small basket that holds dishtowels and aprons that need to be washed. However, while I’m lucky (at least by New York standards) to have a washer and dryer at home, I don’t always wash everything every day. Most often, I spend a few days filling the baskets, then wash the entire contents (usually with a little bleach), wring them out, and start the whole process again.
Remember when I said that when I started this program, I decided to give it up altogether? Well… to be honest, it was more like warm turkey. I’ve bought a roll of paper towels in the last seven months and I don’t regret it at all. This roll is hiding in the back of my pantry, now a little trimmed but still not empty. I don’t turn to it often, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like knowing it’s nearby in case a really catastrophic mess happens (norovirus! damn!).
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Post time: Jun-03-2024