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eco-friendly / Lifestyle / Sustainable Living Tips

How To Create A Paperless Kitchen – Sustainable Living Tips

Paperless Kitchen via Old World New

A Paperless Kitchen Isn’t A New Invention

No paper towels. No paper plates. How would one ever survive? A few years ago I toyed with the idea of getting rid of paper towels from all future shopping lists. When Josh agreed to it, I was ecstatic! We have had a paperless kitchen for nearly 3 years now, and there’s nothing weird or abnormal about it. The house isn’t any less or more messy because of it. All it took was replacing paper towels with reusable paper towels.

We can borrow this lifestyle adjustment from kitchens of the past. There once existed a time before trees were so easily cut down to create little towels that could only be used one time. Many are paper towels are thrown away without ever being used! Before paper towels existed, all kitchens were paperless!

Quick Facts:

  • Paper towels are made from tress in forests.
  • We are losing forestland at a rate of 375 km2 each day. This is more than the total area of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware combined! (source)
  • “According to U.S. EPA figures, 3,490 thousands of tons of Tissue Paper and Towelswere generated in 2009 of which a negligible amount was recycled.” (source)
  • “Decomposing paper towels produce methane gas. Methane gas is a leading cause of global warming.” (source)
  • “If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100 percent recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.” (source)
  • “Every day, over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the US alone.” (source)
  • “To make one ton of paper towels, 17 trees are cut down and 20,000 gallons of water are consumed.” (source)
  • View 13 more Crazy Facts About Paper Products
  • Other people are making the switch, too! Read why Lacey at Home & Harrow is switching to reusable paper towels.

My Cloth Towel Collection

cloth towels paperless kitchen un-paper towel via Old World New

My collection consists of three different types of towels:

  • Flour Sack Towels – Buy them HERE >>
  • Flat Fold Cloth Diapers by Gerber – Buy them HERE >>
  • Ikea TEKLA Cotton Kitchen Towels – Buy them HERE >>

read other natural skin care posts

Tips for A Successful Paperless Kitchen

  • Store your towels in a container or a drawer together in one spot.
  • Make your towel storage part of the decor! Use woven baskets, wicker baskets, metal baskets, or even fruit baskets. Make it match the style of your kitchen.
  • To start, purchase a minimum of 4 hand towels per person in your home.
  • Wash towels every with your regular laundry!
  • Designate specific designs are types of towels to specific duties. Example: I only use my flat folds to soak up grease from fried food. I use the flat folds in other ways, too, but I don’t use my flour sack towels or Ikea towels for this specific task.

I don’t recommend the typical dish towels that are sold in stores. The fabric that they are made from usually isn’t natural. This means that it won’t be as absorbent or helpful with messes. Towels made from synthetic fibers usually can’t withstand being washed a lot without becoming even less absorbent.

Paperless Kitchen via Old World New

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The Comments

  • Ajay Verma
    May 5, 2018

    Thanks for sharing these great tips. After reading your article I got various ideas so that I can go green as I have started to live a SUSTAINABLE life from past 2 months. Keep sharing such informative and helpful posts and educate the readers.

    Reply
  • Joyce brewer
    May 21, 2018

    I’ve already cut back on paper products because my husband was using them way too much. i added hand towels to the bathrooms and removed the paper towels. i feel better about not wasting paper and it’s more budget friendly to wash towels.

    Reply
    • Addie
      Joyce brewer
      May 22, 2018

      Hey Joyce, that is so AWESOME! It’s easy to slowly cut back, and before you know it, you won’t be purchasing them at all in the near future!

      Reply
  • Green Cleaning Kitchen Swaps | Sustainable Living Tips — Old World New
    May 22, 2018

    […] sustainable and eco-friendly replacements for nearly everything in your kitchen. You can create a paperless kitchen instead of using paper towels. Buy organic dish detergent with less chemicals than normal […]

    Reply
  • Eco-Friendly Products at The Home Depot — Old World New
    November 6, 2019

    […] Paperless Kitchen […]

    Reply
  • Reusable Face Masks by Eco-Friendly Brands — Old World New
    May 13, 2020

    […] Paperless Kitchen […]

    Reply
  • Paisley
    July 28, 2020

    I love this! Full of easy to understand information, straight to the point and easy to implement. My kind of blog post to read 🙂 Hopefully one day I can convince my husband to get on board with unpaper towels.

    Reply

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Hello from the garden today. Lots of visitors probably due to the heavy rains.
Hello from the garden today. Lots of visitors probably due to the heavy rains.
Hello from the garden today. Lots of visitors probably due to the heavy rains.
Hello from the garden today. Lots of visitors probably due to the heavy rains.
Hello from the garden today. Lots of visitors probably due to the heavy rains.
oldworldnew
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Hello from the garden today. Lots of visitors probably due to the heavy rains.
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
1/5
Happy Earth Day 🌍🫶🏾🌱

I used to think “let me just get 5k followers.. 10k followers… one day I’ll have 20k followers…” to help people live more sustainably with the blog posts and social media posts I created. 10+ years of that led to burnout. And it never felt the same as when my friends and family started to live a little more sustainably because of something they learned from me. 

I hope you’ll be the inspiration for someone in your life to be a little bit more sustainable today. It’s such a good feeling to see the people closest to you thrift more, consume less, and think differently — more sustainably — about how we treat our world. 

Don’t push it, just live it. 

Happy Earth Day 🌍🫶🏾🌱
oldworldnew
oldworldnew
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Follow
Happy Earth Day 🌍🫶🏾🌱 I used to think “let me just get 5k followers.. 10k followers… one day I’ll have 20k followers…” to help people live more sustainably with the blog posts and social media posts I created. 10+ years of that led to burnout. And it never felt the same as when my friends and family started to live a little more sustainably because of something they learned from me. I hope you’ll be the inspiration for someone in your life to be a little bit more sustainable today. It’s such a good feeling to see the people closest to you thrift more, consume less, and think differently — more sustainably — about how we treat our world. Don’t push it, just live it. Happy Earth Day 🌍🫶🏾🌱
4 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
2/5
🥶❌🌱 Not my plant babies! 

It’s been cold in Texas the past few days, so I acted accordingly to protect my little backyard garden that’s barely underway. 

Using thrifted sheets (once back drops in my “thrift fashionista style content” days lol) and thrifted clothes pins (I knew they would come in handy! 😆🙌🏾), as well as some old jugs, bottles, containers, and twigs. Hopefully they help keep the plants from getting too cold to survive.
oldworldnew
oldworldnew
•
Follow
🥶❌🌱 Not my plant babies! It’s been cold in Texas the past few days, so I acted accordingly to protect my little backyard garden that’s barely underway. Using thrifted sheets (once back drops in my “thrift fashionista style content” days lol) and thrifted clothes pins (I knew they would come in handy! 😆🙌🏾), as well as some old jugs, bottles, containers, and twigs. Hopefully they help keep the plants from getting too cold to survive.
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
3/5
Finally got a migrating bird LIGHTS OUT sign 🤩

Turn off your lights (outdoor & indoor) to limit light pollution and to protect migrating birds 🫶🏾🕊️

TURN ‘EM OFF! (in my Teddy Pendergrass voice 😂)

#lightsouttexas #lightsout #lightpollution #migratorybirds
oldworldnew
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Finally got a migrating bird LIGHTS OUT sign 🤩 Turn off your lights (outdoor & indoor) to limit light pollution and to protect migrating birds 🫶🏾🕊️ TURN ‘EM OFF! (in my Teddy Pendergrass voice 😂) #lightsouttexas #lightsout #lightpollution #migratorybirds
2 months ago
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4/5
Do you reuse gift wrap?

Here are some things that I’ve thrifted to reuse as gift wrap each holiday season:

⭐️ tablecloths
⭐️ napkins & handkerchiefs (matching napkins sewn together can be used for larger gifts)
⭐️ Scarves (like from @wrappr)
⭐️ Cloth bags (like the ones your sheet sets come in)
⭐️ Pillowcases
⭐️ Curtains (can be used as gift wrap or to cover larger gifts like bikes or toy kitchens)

As long as you can fold the fabric into a square before wrapping the gift, it works well when using the furoshiki style wrapping technique. 

Comment WRAP for a few tips and tricks to wrap gifts in cloth fabric.
oldworldnew
oldworldnew
•
Follow
Do you reuse gift wrap? Here are some things that I’ve thrifted to reuse as gift wrap each holiday season: ⭐️ tablecloths ⭐️ napkins & handkerchiefs (matching napkins sewn together can be used for larger gifts) ⭐️ Scarves (like from @wrappr) ⭐️ Cloth bags (like the ones your sheet sets come in) ⭐️ Pillowcases ⭐️ Curtains (can be used as gift wrap or to cover larger gifts like bikes or toy kitchens) As long as you can fold the fabric into a square before wrapping the gift, it works well when using the furoshiki style wrapping technique. Comment WRAP for a few tips and tricks to wrap gifts in cloth fabric.
5 months ago
View on Instagram |
5/5
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