Simple Substitutions to Reduce Paper Waste

I can’t control the bills, junk mail, school papers and receipts that come into my home (though, I can recycle them!) but a few years ago, we set out to eliminate the paper products we bring into our house voluntarily. Paper towels, napkins, tissues, baby wipes—when did we become such a disposable society? Fortunately, there are several reasonable alternatives.

Paper Towels

This is a pretty simple one, but requires a bit of dedication. Everything you use paper towels for, you can use dish towels instead. Of course, this does create a little extra laundry. However, a load of towels each week is easier on the planet than massive quantities of paper towels. I also buy flour sack towels. These are thinner, easier for quick cleanups and don’t add much to your laundry load.

Napkins

Similarly, it’s very easy to replace paper napkins with cloth. Plus, it feels super fancy to eat a regular, ol’ family dinner with cloth napkins. To keep the expense down, and reduce the laundry, I bought a set in white, light, dark and red. This way, no matter what laundry I’m doing that day, it doesn’t add much extra to toss in 5 or 6 small cloths.

Tissues

I remember my grandfather carrying a hanky when I was a little girl. Did you know they still sell them? While guys aren’t likely to carry a monogrammed handkerchief, you can pick up a few packs to keep on hand for cold season. Of course, I have to admit that I don’t do this one, but maybe some of you are more dedicated (or less germophobic) than I.

Baby Wipes

I’m not going to get into diapers here since it’s an entire culture, but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed my homemade baby wipes when we were cloth diapering our little one. Buy a pack of cheap baby washcloths. Be sure you get the cheap ones without binding on the edge—they just work better. Add a homemade solution—1 cup water, 1/4 cup baby wash and 1 tablespoon of baby oil. Also? I didn’t really measure, but that’s the general formula.

Swiffer cloths

When the Swiffer sweepers, vacuums and mops first came out, I was pretty excited. I’m not much for cleaning so these seemed like a snap. It didn’t take me long to realize what a drain they were on the landfills—not to mention my checkbook! A package of microfiber towels from the automotive department solved both problems. The one time expense provided cloths I could use for dusting, attach to my Swiffers and throw in the washer at the end of the day!

Take-Out Containers

One of my favorite things about dining out is the yummy lunch leftovers the next day, but those Styrofoam containers just killed me. As a solution, we keep a package of plastic containers in the car. When we eat at a restaurant, we carry them in with us, store our leftovers and have lunch the next day without the waste! In fact, it has several benefits.No more waiting for our server to bring us boxes. No more spilled food in the car from flimsy containers. And, no more transferring to a plate for the microwave.

It was much easier than I thought to make the switch to reusable. I hope you’ll enjoy our favorite substitutions for reducing paper waste at home. The only time I miss paper towels is when I’m frying bacon. I still haven’t found a good non-disposable grease drainer. Any ideas?

Heather Sokol is the married mother of 3 beautiful, active girls. In between carpools and Scout meetings, she helps others find ways to reduce waste and spending at Inexpensively.com.

Image Credit

Spy Hill Landfill – 2 courtesy of Flickr user D’Arcy Norman published under the CC license.