Un-Paper Towels: Are they Worth it?
Unpaper Towels: worth the investment?
Almost three years ago, I took the plunge and stopped buying paper towel. It was a big decision that I didn't have a lot of support for, but I promised a trial period. In that trial period my husband was diagnosed with a very large menengioma brain tumor. After this diagnoses he was very supportive because he really wanted to rid our home and lives of unnecessary exposure to harmful ingredients.
One of his best buddies worked in the paper industry and put it into perspective for us: "Wood does not soak up water. What kind of chemicals and additives do you think they put on wood pulp to make paper soak water like paper towel does?" Hmmmmm.... The less chemicals we were exposing ourselves to the better. This is a great article that Growing a Green Family wrote about paper towels.
After our trial period, we both were in agreement, we could definitely live without it. Are there times we wished we had something disposable? Yes, like when a bottle of wine dropped out of the fridge.... Or I dropped a jar of salsa.... Yes I wish we had a roll. But in all honesty, it hasn't been as hard as we thought.
Where can you get "unpaper" towels? Etsy is a great place, I love supporting small handmakers. Local is even better! You can get them with snaps and put them on your existing paper towel roll dispenser. I did that for awhile and then I just stopped and now they get put in with the other towels. I am actually looking to replace the ones I bought three years ago, so I definitely think it's a great investment.
What do you think? Is it something you could try?
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