If I had the money, I’d install a Dyson Airblade dryer in my home. Until then, I use cloth towels until I need to do a full washer-load of clothes. The other thing I’d add to my home is a Toto Washlet seat and eliminate toilet paper from my life.
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This situation is becoming inflammable!
Wood for paper pulp is generally farmed. Using paper towels doesn’t “waste wood” any more than eating bread “wastes wheat”. Trees are planted, harvested and replanted. OK, monoculture tree plantations aren’t much of a habitat compared with natural forest, but they absorb plenty of carbon as they grow.
The main environmental issue with paper is that a lot of it is bleached using chlorine, which can pollute waterways etc. But many paper towels are made of unbleached pulp, which IMO is “greener” than recycled paper towels that have been bleached.
I believe that I am attending to the OP by pointing out that such a concern is, by itself, nonsensical. Suppose, for example, that he had said, “For someone who is concerned about the color of the world’s oceans, where should I place a drop of food coloring?” I don’t wish to disparage his interest in the condition of his/our environment, but I do believe that for those who do have such concerns, the more effective routes relate not to individual behaviors, but to addressing the more significant sources of stressors. For example, an individual may have some impact in writing to a congressman regarding the pollution caused by ocean-going vessels. Even one letter has been known to make a politician aware of issues that have large impact, for instance.
I’ll wear t-shirts around the house more than once before I wash them, and sweatshirts out, but the clothing that comes in contact with your sweat glands (undershirts, dress shirts, underwear) should never be worn more than once if you wish to continue being welcome in polite company.
(Disregard if you’re impolite, or French, BIRM :).
Ugh. I’ve used one of those at a local movie theatre and it was horrible. Your hands get about as dry as waving them in the air to remove the water droplets.
NoooooooO! They rock!
You have to use them correctly, which involves using the slightly drier hand to dry off the other one, and repeat. And a make sure you shake your hands off in the sink first. They get my hands dry at least twice as fast as ordinary air dryers. And it usually takes me 3+ paper towels…
I think the main advantage to air drying is the lack of waste, and perhaps the energy needed to handle that waste.
Not to pick nits, but it’s been decades since a lot of paper was bleached with chlorine, and it’s been at least 10 years since any significant portion of it was. Paper today is bleached primarily with chlorine dioxide. It seems like a small distinction, but it’s the little little things that matter. You wouldn’t say food with salt was flavored with chlorine, would you?
The paper industry has spent a lot of money converting from chlorine bleaching to elemental chlorine free bleaching for environmental reasons.
You’re right about the brown paper being greener though, mostly for energy reasons. It takes a lot of energy to bleach paper.
Huh - I came into this thread to comment that I once submitted a question to Cecil on this very topic, when I first came across the Straight Dope. I got a very nice e-mail back from (I think) Dex to say that Cecil was too busy to answer my question right now, but I could go ask the SDMB - so I did, hence how I joined (I used to be a member, since February 2005, before free posting returned). I never realised it did eventually get to be a column!
Wipe them on a passing racoon.
A few months ago, I was in an airport where they had these things. It worked fine for drying my hands, but didn’t help when I washed my face.