OK, lets start by saying i know most people use tea towels (dish towels) for drying dishes etc. But as i was being lectured by my fiance over the weekend for using the “teat towel” to wipe up some tea from the counter, I started to think.
Are papers towels really what we should using? They are used once and thrown out. A tea towel is used again and again, washed and used again and again. Now i know there are health and sanity concerns… but can we not be reasonable?
argument for tea towels: they are used multiple time from a renewable resource (cotton).
They will allow men to use a cloth towel to wipe up messes with out being nagged.
They take up less counter space.
they fill up laundry loads when you are washing jeans and work shirts.
against? is cotton really sustainable?
the fertilizer and water contamination created during cotton farming is beyond belief.
The cotton must be bleached and dyed.
We need to run a washer and dryer to clean them.
Arguments for Paper Towels:
The are clean.
Trees grow back.
My paper towels are recycled (seriously I heard a neighbour’s wife say that at a dinner party)
against:
They depleted forests and wood products.
They use bleach and other chemicals to make them all pretty.
They get flushed in to the sewer system and add to the waste problems in landfills!
I am at a loss.
Plus my GF likes paper towels…
!
