We get a lot of questions about paper towels. When we go through our kitchen and try to remove waste, it's virtually inevitable that we see paper towels. Americans have an obsession with this disposable product, but more and more people are making the shift away from them. Non-paper towels are becoming increasingly common - just like they used to be, and we're excited to stock them now. When we received a cold call to buy them from a wholesaler in Florida, we knew we could do better. So we reached out to Mishka Hands and asked for non-paper towels... and she was happy to oblige! 100% cotton, handmade, and local to the Bay Area. This checks a LOT of sustainability boxes, and we're in love.
Did you know that those white paper towels in your kitchen were invented by accident? In 1907, Scott Paper Company was in the business of making toilet paper. They had a big shipment of paper that was unsuitable for their business purposes, and instead of throwing it out, they made it into something new. Their challenge then became to sell people on the idea of using disposable products in their kitchen to clean up messes instead of towels. Unfortunately, they were GREAT at that. While I do keep paper towels on hand in my kitchen for cleaning up greasy (compostable) messes that I don't want to ruin a towel, it's a hard habit to break. The resources used to satisfy our paper towel obsession are great - both from trees and water, and let's not forget that almost all of them come wrapping in unrecyclable plastic.
Who Gives A Crap does make a more sustainable paper towel that comes wrapped in paper. People often ask us why we don't stock it. Honestly, they don't have a wholesale program, and if we were to stock it, the prices we'd need to charge to cover overhead and delivery just wouldn't be reasonable for the consumer... so we can't justify adding them. Don't worry - we are in touch with WGAC often to see how their wholesale program is coming... and if we can get these in, we will!
In the mean time, give some non-paper towels a try. And wash them with any of our laundry detergents, but don't forget the Oxi Booster to get stains out when they pop up.