Tuesday, December 18, 2012


January Earth Care Tip: Break the Paper Habit
from Barbara Hedspeth
 
If a family of four used paper napkins for every meal they would spend $130 a year and add a pile of waste to the landfill. Factor in the number of paper towels that family would use and we’re looking at a significant amount of waste and it’s all made from trees. Somehow we’ve been convinced that the convenience of paper napkins and towels is worth the consumption of hundreds of acres of timber and all the energy necessary for processing that wood into the thin paper we use and toss into the trash, without thinking, multiple times a day.
 
Using cloth napkins and cloth dish towels for cleanup instead of paper towels is a more sustainable and less expensive alternative. The key is to frame the cloth napkin as not always being the pricey matching accessory to the table cloth. Look for cloth napkins made of durable material such as cotton or linen blends that stand up to regular washing along with the towels and sheets. It only takes a few moments to fold them and they’re ready to use again. They don’t all have to match either. I’ve found good deals on this kind of napkin at stores like Garden Ridge and Hobby Lobby. You might even try your hand at making your own. Either way you’re doing our southern forests a great favor.