Wednesday, 6 August 2014

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #262 Use Rags

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #262 Use Rags


Paper towel is made from paper – there’s actually a clue in the name, isn’t there? Paper comes from trees, and whilst trees are sustainable (so long as we manage these resources wisely), it seems crazy to me to create a product that is single use and then gets thrown in the bin (call that landfill). Try using rags instead. You don’t even have to buy them. Plenty of us have old t-shirts or other clothing that has been worn to death and is quite ready to become a rag. Old tea towels that don’t dry well enough or now have holes in them make excellent rags, as do torn and worn out sheets and other linen items. A lot of cloth items around the house can eventually be used as rags for cleaning up spills, wiping away dust and dirt, drying hands (particularly in the garage or home workshop), general cleaning or any other use you may find around the house.
Our ancestors never used them and they managed to have clean households. Use rags instead, wash them (not necessarily with your lingerie) and keep reusing them. You will be saving some trees, putting less into landfill and, more importantly, avoid putting the chemical substances, such as bleach which can be used to make the paper towels white, into the ground and subsequently the water systems.

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