Have you ever been to Green Festival? If you have, you know that it is the annual Mecca for greenies – a giant convention of eco-friendly vendors, services, and products, and tons of new ideas in the world of green. If you haven’t been, you should try to get to one soon. They are so fun!
One of my favorite things about going to Green Festival is finding the thing I wasn’t looking for but can’t live without. This year, I found a couple and I will write about them all eventually. Today I share my experience with and growing love for PeopleTowels. These little 9 inch square, organic cotton personal towels are designed to reduce the need for paper towel use when you wash your hands in a public restroom. Paper towels require a lot of natural resources to produce and create an extreme amount of waste so cutting down on them will help save our environment in a big way.
So PeopleTowels are a fabulous idea, but how do they really work logistically? It’s one thing to tell you about this cool new product but I also want to help you to actually use them since doing so will require a little redesign of how you do things. The key is, you have to take it with you. Each towel has a cloth loop on the backside so that you can easily attach it to your keys or bag with a ring or ribbon or whatever works for you. Maybe you prefer to just simply put it in your pocket. The restroom at my office requires a key to access so I keep my PeopleTowel on a carabineer on my key ring. It is easy to attach and switch out and I always take it with me since I need the key to get in anyway.
After you have mastered carrying your PeopleTowel, just wash your hands and dry them with it, it is that easy! And they dry off fairly quickly for your next use. Don’t despair if it takes you a while to get the hang of it. We are creatures of habit and it took me a few times to remember not to reach for the disposables – even when I had the Peopletowel in my hand!
If there is one drawback to this arrangement, it is this. I got in the habit of using my paper towel to open the door when I leave so that I didn’t transfer other people’s germs from the handle. I don’t want to use the PeopleTowel for this purpose since I would be taking those germs with me on the towel (yuck!). So I chance it each time with opening the door with my bare hand. Sometimes I get lucky though and take advantage of someone else opening the door as I am leaving. If this is a big concern for you, I suggest using the PeopleTowel for drying and using one sheet or a smaller piece of disposable to handle the handle. This still reduces your paper use by most, since you usually have to use a substantial wad of paper to dry your hands well. In fact, using PeopleTowels exclusively is reported to save ¼ of a tree annually, on average (www.peopletowels.com). If four people start using PeopleTowels, that’s a whole tree!
And they are so cute! They have several different designs to choose from. I can’t tell you how many people have commented positively on my personal towels. What a conversation starter! And I feel like I am doing something really good by using them, even if it is a small step. You can find PeopleTowels online, or follow them on Twitter or Facebook to get word of any special deals and see all of their cute designs. Also, look out for them on your friends and neighbors and let them know that you appreciate their efforts to reduce their paper consumption. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. Leave a comment here or email me at Melissa@ecohomeconsults.com. I can’t wait to hear how it works for you!
Originally posted on www.Greenwala.com 7/12/2010
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