Question: " What has less of an environmental impact, using paper towels to clean and throw away in a trash bag and haul off to our landfills by truck or using water, electricity and detergent to launder rags and dry them?
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Steve’s Answer:
The answer is “it depends”.
As I think you know there is no simple answer to this question because it really depends on what you’re comparing. For example, how many paper towels are you using? Are they made from virgin fiber or recycled fiber? Are they bleach or unbleached? Is there landfill issues in the community that they are being disposed? How many times are the cloths used before they are washed? Is the laundry machine empty or full when the cloths are washed? Are you only washing the cloth or is it being added to a laundry load that would be washed anyway? Are they using hot or cold water when the wash the cloth? What kind of laundry detergent are they using --- for example are they using a nonylphenol ethoxylate? Are they using chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite) in the laundry? Are they drying the cloths and if so, when is the source of energy? If they are using microfiber cloths does this allow them to also eliminate the use of cleaning chemicals? And the list could go on….
So the real answer is to make sure we are asking the right questions and regardless of what they are currently doing to try and reduce the environmental and health impacts associated with their cleaning process and to continually work to become greener.
All the best,
Steve
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