The Green Clean: Why Swap to Recycled Kitchen Towels?

Naked Paper is a super eco-brand, offering recycled paper kitchen roll, facial tissues, kitchen roll and bathroom tissue, all sold in zero waste packaging.

Use code englandnaturally for 10% discount

Do not flush kitchen roll, it is designed to stay strong in water (so could block toilets). If the sheet is clean or lightly used, add (torn) to home compost. Oily sheets should be binned.

If using with cleaners, choose biodegradable cleaning brands (unscented for pregnancy/breastfeeding/babies and affected medical conditions). Avoid essential oils near pets (citrus oils are unsafe, so don’t use to clean floors/counters). 

Each year, around 1 million trees are chopped down daily (mostly in Boreal forests that are home to moose, elk, wolves and grizzly bears), just to make kitchen roll that is then wrapped in plastic. Just imagine the effect if everyone switched to recycled paper, sugar cane or bamboo rolls instead?

Did you know that in Japan, nobody uses disposable paper towels? It’s because 11% of land is arable, so people there don’t have the luxury of creating landfills or even ‘industrial composting heaps’. If you’re fed up of sorting waste into two or three bins, know that residents of one Japanese town have to recycle into 45 categories.

Fun and Funky Recycled Kitchen  Towels

Who Gives a Crap? sells these fab kitchen rolls, made from post-consumer waste paper, and sold in colourful paper packaging. Known mostly for its recycled paper toilet roll, it’s now ventured into making a few other products, to help stop deforestation.

And this company donates 50% of profits to sanitation projects abroad, so that people have access to clean hygienic toilets.

These absorbent tissues are ideal to wipe up spills on countertops, or wiping dusty areas. Each double-length roll has 135 strong sheets, in biodegradable 2-ply, with no scent, dye or inks.

The rolls are a bit shorter than perhaps you’re used to, but that’s okay. They work just as well, they are cut to this size to make shipping costs low, as they are mostly still sold online, for home delivery.

Because these rolls are in paper packaging, each roll is wrapped individually to keep out moisture. Wrapping them as two rolls in packaging would mean using plastic, and this company doesn’t want to do that.

Dream Cloth (a washable alternative to kitchen roll)

Tired of buying rolls of paper towels that end up in the bin after one use? Dream Cloth offers a fresh way to clean that keeps your home tidy and helps the planet. These reusable towels can handle big messes, simple spills, and everyday wipes.

Sold in packs of 3, Dream Cloths are one part sponge, one part cloth and three parts marvellous! Perfect to wipe up spills or wipe countertops and appliances, the cloth can hold 13 times its weight in water, and is also fast to dry, so you never get that icky sponge smell.

When you first receive your dream cloth, you’ll notice is a bit crispy. But that what helps to stop bacteria. A quick rinse under the tap, and it magically transforms to absorb like a sponge, or scrub like a cloth.

What are dream cloths made from?

They are made from a blend of repurposed cotton and cellulose (wood pulp). So no synthetics like microfiber or recycled plastic). So they can safely be laundered or go in the dishwasher, without releasing microplastics into the ocean. Dry flat.

Do not use fabric conditioner (not tumble dry) as this reduces absorbency. 

Designed to last around 50 washes (9 months), there are three Dream Cloths in each pack. So perhaps keep one for each wet room in the house?

Then just cut up and compost at end of use, or bin to naturally biodegrade.

And this company donates 50% of profits to sanitation projects abroad, so that people have access to clean hygienic toilets.

They’re not cheap (£8 for a pack of 3), but live up to all the promises. Would recommend them.

Good quality durable cloth, with sponge-like texture.

Really handsome cloths, and a good size for everyday cleaning.

I use them in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Best thing is they won’t contribute to landfill.

Serious Tissues (recycled paper kitchen towels)

Serious Tissues Kitchen Roll are made in the Midlands from old cereal boxes and newspaper, sold in plastic-free packaging. Saving the planet and creating local jobs, each delivery includes 6 (or 12) rolls of jumbo 100-sheet rolls in thick 3-ply size.

Cheeky Panda (bamboo kitchen towels)

Cheeky Panda Bamboo Kitchen Roll is a zero waste alternative to brands that are made from trees, usually cut down in Boreal forests (home to moose and grizzly bears). This brand is guaranteed to only use 100% bamboo (not mixed with other woods, like some brands).

Bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing grass (up to 3 feet a day). So even when harvesting, it quickly grows back again. It’s not local but far better than making kitchen towels from trees. Sold in paper packaging, bamboo is also very soft and absorbent.

Ideal to wipe up spills in the kitchen, they are ideal for coffee spills, sauce explosions, or when the blender lid was not on properly when you made your smoothie! These towels don’t disintegrate when they get wet, so you need less of them.

Choose from packs of 4 or 10 rolls, each one has 200 sheets. You can then safely bin used towels, and everything else is easily recycled.

Biodegradable dry wipes

If you need something a bit stronger, these biodegradable dry wipes are the next best thing. Again you bin them after use, and recycle all the packaging.

Use these as alternatives to cotton pads to wipe off make-up or nail polish, or use to clean up spills or dry your face on-the-go. Or just add water to clean mirrors, windows or shelving.

Anti-bacterial surface wipes

These anti-bacterial surface wipes are alternatives to toxic wipes sold in supermarkets. These are infused with <5% Cationic surfactant, an anti-microbial agent to help kill 99.99% of bacteria with each swipe, so ideal for safety cleaning like in surgeries and hospitals, without the usual chemicals. They can help to kill bacteria, viruses, fungi and algae.

Most packaging is recycled at home, but because the inside wrapper is made from (partly recycled) plastic, you’ll have to recycle this at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside doesn’t recycle.