whats better for the environment?, drying your hands with paper towels or a dishcloth after washing them?

Question

think about it:
a paper towel is bio degradable and most companies now plant more trees then they use! (although I don’t know if the brand that I buy does that)

but a dishcloth has to be washed, using water, energy, washing powder which can contain phosphorus which is very bad for the environment (my powder is phosphorus free!), it uses softener which is also bad for the environment and some people then use the dryer to dry there clothes!!


so, in a typical house, which is better for the environment?

Answer 1

My pants are suitable

Answer 2

well probabley a dish cloth...you can use them over and over. Though, considering the germs.......ick! You can only use a paper towel once and then you throw it away. More trees. And then the paper towel is either burned or buried, not very good for the environment. Then again, we are planting more trees than we use sooo. Hmmm, well if you don't wash the dish cloth as often then it wouldn't be so bad. So I'm going with the dish cloth!

Answer 3

The dishcloth, of course. We keep one aside ONLY for drying hands. If you use a paper towel, you will use one everytime you dry them. If you use a dishcloth, you will dry your hands 10-20 times before you wash the towel. And, you can save much of the energy by washing in cold water and hanging on a clothes line to dry.

Answer 4

You have to be kidding. Using a dish cloth is always better even if you wash it often. The energy and chemicals used in paper making are staggering. The cost to the environment in paper making is obscene.You are worried about Phosphorus try worrying about all the PCP used in paper making.

Answer 5

well a cloth towel can be used many times before it's washed, paper towels get one use. I use both, mainly paper because I have sinus problems and don't want to spread any germs, you get them all when you wash. If I'm washing dishes i use the cloth towel for obvious reasons.paper looks like the better choice, but they have to be made using dangerous chemicals that pollute, as well as harvesting trees, so it's a toss up to me.

Answer 6

The dish cloth. It is a reusable resource. One can use it numerous times before needing washed. You can wash real cheap and you can buy biodegradable detergent. You can air dry. You state:
"most companies now plant more trees then they use!"

This statement is meaningless. If I plant one hundred trees and you cut cut down one, I must have offset your tree. But your tree was comprised of many more board feed and viable timber and foliage than all hundred of the trees planted combined.

Reuse and reduction is better than recycle. Think this way: Reduce, reuse and recycle. That is the hierarchy to follow.

Answer 7

It is healthier to use paper towels because teatowels are full of germs and you make your hands dirty again after washing them! They can at least be composted so returned to the soil. If you look carefully when you go shopping you can by either recycled paper ones or paper towels that have the FSC label on them such as those sold in the Co-Op. At least then you are not involved in the overexploitation of trees.

Answer 8

I would definitely say paper towels. but only if they biodegrade. or u can recyle them. or even better u can blow onto ur hands. but there is problems in that too. u take up more o2 and therefore blow out more c02. ur screwed either way. But if u dont find a solution u can invent one. Go on dragons den (if ur british) get them to invest make money and plant trees or even better build ur own wind farm

Answer 9

a clean cloth as paper towels have to be made transported to the shop packed priced u fetch them then have to dispose of them, far more energy is used for the paper towel as opposed to the cloth, also cloths are made from natural sources.

Answer 10

.005 ounces of detergent and 1 cup of water vs
1000s of pounds of water, 100s of pounds of paper, and 10s of pounds of chemicals. Plus the energy to grind, press, dry, roll, and ship 100s of pounds vs a few ounces of cloth.

Answer 11

with a paper towel i suppose but you could dry them on your jeans!