Why use paper towels when you can use hand towes to save paper?

Answer 1

2 reasons:
1. Germs. Those hand towels are usually pretty infested with some gross germs..and they then are spread onto food and food surfaces.
2. Hand towels, while re-usable, do require that you clean them frequently, which means using water. The paper towel, while seeming like a waste, is no more wasteful than having to wash a bunch of hand towels in hot water (which means something needs to be burned to producte the hote water, again, anti environment..not to mention the soap that then gets into the environment).
Nothing is ever easy or as clear cut as one may think

Answer 2

You make a good point, but you may not be aware of the potential health problems.

In the kitchen, hand towels will accumulate bacteria and re-infect you every time you re-use the towel - in a setting where you are preparing food, this is very unhygenic. Paper towels are thrown out right away and the chance of food-borne bacteria re-contaminating hands is minimal.

The same holds true in the bathroom, for obvious reasons. A recent Health study showed that there were more contaminating bacteria on bathroom hand towels that were swabbed and studied than there were on the inside of the toilet bowl. Enough said. If you have kids, have paper towels in the bathroom too. Save the towels for after bath only - kids really aren't good at getting rid of the bad stuff!

Yes, it is perhaps more environmentally sensitive to use hand towels. However, all the environmental sensitivity in the world is not going to protect you against E-Coli or salmonella. Just the opposite at times.

150 Years ago, people used hand towels and lived to a ripe old age of 55 if they were lucky, usualy sufferring an unhealthy "old age". Today, with advancements in science, we use paper and live to the ripe old age of 80 on a regular basis - with a healthy old age.

On the other hand, as my kids are gone and I am alone, I use handtowels in the bathroom and both a hand towel and paper towel in the kitchen. Mind you, as a chef, I am as well trained in microbiology and safe food handling as anyone can be - it is something I take very seriously.

Answer 3

One word: germs.

If I use a paper towel to wipe my hands, then I'm the only one who's used it, and any germs go in the garbage can, not in whatever I'm cooking or eating. If I use a cloth towel, the good Lord only knows who's used the thing before me and what they've wiped on it.

It may be a bit wasteful/not ecologically sound by some people's standards. But if using a paper towel saves me food poisoning and a trip to the hospital, I'm all for it.

Answer 4

Convenience, tidiness and paper towels are relatively cheap, more sanitary as you can wipe and throw them away.

Cloth towels tend to collect bacteria & spread around other bad stuff -- unless of course you have a lot of cloth towels or are good about periodically rinsing with a disinfectant.

We use both in the kitchen.

Answer 5

I use both. I like to use paper towel to clean up extra dirty messes so I don't ruin a good hand towel.

Answer 6

If at home depending on the size of the family it could mean an extra load of laundry a week. If in a public restroom no way is it sanitary. If in a cheap restaurant the paper is cheaper than the laundry, and sometimes free when they buy other items from the vendors.

Answer 7

It's ok to use hand towels. Some poeple just perfer paper towels. I use hand towels.

Answer 8

Hand towels must be washed. Water gets dirty, the water is heated by burning something.
Paper towels can be recycled
Nice try

Answer 9

Some mildly germaphobic people can't stand the idea of wiping their hands on who-knows-what on a used towel.

Answer 10

don't you know about recycling?
sometimes it is easier to wipe it with a paper towel and forget about it than wash a hand towel