This Common Kitchen Cleaning Habit Might Be Doing More Harm Than Good

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If there's one thing that unites professional and home kitchens across America, it's paper towels. Their use for cleaning messes, both large and small, has become ubiquitous. The market size is staggering, and it's estimated that Americans use 13 billion pounds of paper towels every year, according to Market Biz. Considering what paper towels weigh, that number is simply massive. They're so convenient and useful that we often don't think twice about using them, but are they really worth the time, money, and effort? Maybe not.

For the average American, paper towels cost around $120 to $180 per year. That may not be a ton of money, but these are still funds that could be spent on more essential things. Not only do paper towels produce a large amount of waste when they're thrown out, but the production of these towels is also problematic. Central Washington University reports that it takes 17 trees and 200,000 gallons of water to make one ton of paper towels. Meanwhile, a single roll requires 10 liters, or about 2.6 gallons, of water to produce. To make all the paper towels Americans use annually, that's 110 million trees and 1.3 trillion gallons of water.

All that effort is to clean spills and wipe counters. Along with the environmental toll of paper towels, they're not the best option economically or in terms of efficiency. Paper towels are an old-school cleaning habit best left in the past. You're better off investing in some cleaning options that aren't disposable.

While a high-quality microfiber cloth seems like a larger investment than paper towels at first, it can be used up to 500 times or more. Mr. Siga Microfiber Cloths cost more than a dollar apiece, but if you use each one in a 12-pack 500 times, that totals 6,000 uses. According to Ideas Ask, the average American uses just over 900 paper towels in a year. That means you'd only have to buy these microfiber cloths once in six years. Buying the equivalent in Bounty paper towels would cost nearly ten times as much. Given the price of paper towels, investing in microfiber cloths is far more cost-effective.

It's also worth noting that microfiber cloths are more effective at cleaning all kinds of things. They absorb better than paper towels, and they are ideal for cleaning a glass cooktop. Even better, many can be infused with antibacterial materials that help sanitize as they clean. This is important because some research has shown paper towels can harbor bacteria even before use, especially if they come from recycled material.

By contrast, the material in microfiber cloths is designed to have better cleaning power and is fast drying. Even for dry cleaning, microfiber cloths are electrostatically charged to help pick up dust, hair, and other light materials as they are wiped up. That means they clean more effectively than paper towels in the same situation. If you're concerned about the environment, cost, or effective cleaning, consider replacing paper towels with a quality reusable cloth.