Go Cloth! How to Replace Disposable Paper and Plastic Products with Cloth

Why cloth?

Until 100 years ago, there were no disposable paper or plastic products for cleaning or personal use. These disposables deplete resources, pollute the environment, and clog landfills on a staggering scale for mere seconds of usefulness. Cloth products work better than disposables in most cases and are reusable for years, saving resources, energy, and money for individuals and societies. If made of organic fibers, cloth products can be much less damaging to produce than paper or plastic, and are biodegradable when made of natural fibers. Here's how to return to a sane and sustainable lifestyle.

What to look for

Table linens:

Cloth napkins are stronger, more absorbent, and infinitely more elegant that paper. This is a really easy switch to make. For the price of a package of paper napkins, you can buy an excellent quality cotton or linen napkin or two that will last for decades. I have a dozen basic cotton napkins that are going strong after 15 years of 3-meals-a-day use and show no signs of quitting. You can, of course, have multiple sets and styles for different occasions, dining areas, or even family members. Cloth napkins are easy and lightweight to pack with lunches or picnics, and they won't blow away at the slightest breeze. Cloth placemats and tablecloths are also most attractive and long-lasting, and most people use these already. Table linens are available at any home goods retailer. Napkins, placemats, and tablecloths can be used until they are visibly soiled, or for about a week, and then washed.

Cleaning:

Hotel-quality cotton terry-cloth washcloths or hospital-quality huck towels run circles around paper towels for all cleaning jobs. I bought two dozen and keep stacks in the kitchen, in the playroom, and on each floor of the house. They soak up spills, pick up debris, scrub walls, counters, and floors, rub out stains, and everything else much better and more quickly than paper towels.



Cotton flannel cloths are excellent for more delicate cleaning jobs, such as mirrors, glass, and dusting. I use these soft flannel wipes for lots of things- see Personal Care below.  BumGenius and Bumkins make nice, long-lasting wipes. You can also recycle old clothing into cleaning rags: t-shirts and sweatshirts make especially good cleaning cloths. Simply cut them into 12-inch squares and start cleaning.

Wool dusters or cloths are great for dusting because of the static charge of the wool fiber. I use a wool duster and shake it out after use. Microfiber cloths also have a static charge due to the polyester fiber, but they are made of petroleum in a very polluting and unsustainable way, and are not biodegradable.



Cotton or linen kitchen or tea towels are wonderful for lighter-duty kitchen uses, such as drying dishes, wiping hands, covering resting food, and so forth. New or vintage, kitchen towels are attractive and very durable. Waffle-weave or other texture weaves provide great absorbency, while smooth linen or flour sack cotton give a lint-free shine to glassware. Like table linens. kitchen towels are widely available.


Cotton dishrags work great, last much longer, and are more sanitary than sponges. I use waffle-weave rags for the light scrubbing effect, and a natural-bristle scrub brush for tougher jobs. Dishrags can be thrown in the wash every few days to sanitize, instead of sitting damp on your sink for months like a sponge. They also make great household cleaning rags when you don't need something as heavy as a washcloth. Check Amazon for options if your local hame goods retailers don't carry dishrags.



A fabric mop head works better and lasts much longer than a sponge mop or, of course, a single-use swiffer sheet. I love my Rubbermaid Reveal mop with washable wet and dry mopping pads. The pads are microfiber, but you can order cotton terry-cloth and crocheted pads from Etsy to fit the mop if you prefer natural fibers.

Shopping:

By now, we've all heard about reusable bags instead of single-use plastic or paper bags. I am thrilled with my Ecobags organic cotton canvas bags. They are like new after ten years of daily use for all shopping- not just groceries- as well as traveling, visiting, the library, basically anytime I need to take anything anywhere. They hold more and are much stronger than even reusable plastic bags, and the straps fit over my shoulders for hands-free carrying. I keep them in the back of my car so I always have one handy. I wash them when they get dirty, either a couple of times a year or when something spills in them. I also love the Ecobags cotton produce, bulk, and bread bags. Now I never bring home a single plastic bag! 

Personal care:

Handkerchiefs are stronger and more absorbent than paper tissues, not to mention much more attractive! You can pick up vintage ones inexpensively at antique stores or Ebay or Etsy, or buy new ones in any color or pattern to fit your style. I prefer cotton, but some old linen handkerchiefs are wonderfully soft. 

Terry-cloth washcloths are wonderful for bathing, working up a good lather, mildly exfoliating, and lasting much longer than plastic poufs. If you'd like more exfoliating, look for a rougher hemp or sisal cloth or mitt, or a loofah or natural body brush.



Cotton flannel wipes, identical to the flannel cleaning cloths, are wonderfully soft for washing faces, removing make-up, cleaning cuts and scrapes, and applying treatments such as toners or antiseptics instead of cotton balls or disposable pads.

The same flannel wipes are especially nice for wiping bottoms instead of toilet paper. Wet the cloth under the faucet and wipe. I used them on my babies, and then one day ran out of toilet paper and used one on myself. It was great! Much softer and more effective than paper, my bottom and hands were so much cleaner, and my bottom much drier and more comfortable. And although I use these same cotton flannel wipes for cleaning, personal use, and toilet wipes, I keep the three piles separate in washing and use.

Instead of tampons and pads, use cloth pads and silicone or rubber cups. Cloth pads are softer and more comfortable than disposables, much more absorbent, smell much less, and don't put synthetic petrochemicals and leaching plastics next to your reproductive organs. Check Etsy or Amazon for a wide selection. A small wetbag can collect used pads when out of the house, if necessary.

Cloth diapers can be used for years, are much softer on babies' bottoms, and again don't put synthetic petrochemicals and leaching plastics next to your baby's developing reproductive organs. Besides, there is nothing more adorable than a fat padded bottom crawling across the floor! I prefer cotton, hemp, and wool to plastic (polyester) fleece, but any reusable diaper gives vastly more use for the resources it uses in production and disposal than disposables. Abby's Lane has a great selection to get you started.

Maintenance

Cleaning and reusing your cloth is very easy. I do one or two "utility" washes a week, along with my regular laundry.

All kitchen towels, napkins, placemats, tablecloths, cleaning rags, dishcloths, and mop heads go into in a household laundry basket in the kitchen until wash day. I wash these on hot with soap and oxygen bleach and line-dry outside when possible. If I don't have a full load, I throw them in with my white clothes or sheets wash and everything comes out great.

Bath washcloths get washed with bath towels once a week or when dirty. Handkerchiefs get washed with white clothes once a week or when dirty.

I collect the more intimate personal cloth, including toilet wipes, menstrual pads, and diapers when my babies were using them, in a tight-sealing trash can or wetbag. For sanitary reasons, these get their own wash load, no matter how small. I set the washer to the lowest water level, prewash on cold to rinse, then wash on hot with soap and oxygen bleach, and line-dry outside when possible. When I was washing diapers, I washed every three days. With no diapers, I wash once a week.

The Washing Myth

Now, I often read, even in "green" publications, that using cloth is not really better for the environment because so much water and energy are wasted in washing it. I have researched this extensively and found that every "study" reaching this conclusion was either sponsored by a disposable product manufacturer, or made worst-case assumptions about washing routines that in no way reflect my or any normal practices. I also closely compared my water and electric bills from before and after I switched to all-cloth for household items, and there was no difference. Try it and see.

The washing myth helps us avoid feeling guilty about our laziness in avoiding an extra wash load or two a week. Disposable product advertising tells us every day that time spent cleaning is wasted and beneath us, and we're so hooked that we can't stop thinking of housework as something to be avoided at all costs. Really, housework is the maintenance of our existence as physical beings. Doing it mindfully as caring for ourselves and our environment can be a spiritual practice, as Zen masters and medieval monks knew.

It is my belief that even environmentalists cling desperately to this washing myth in the case of diapers, toilet wipes, and menstrual pads primarily because of a deep-seated Western squeamishness about our bodies. This is part of a pervasive Western cultural denial of our animal nature as living organisms that take in and emit matter, a small part of the organic whole of life and nature on earth. By classifying some of the normal functions of our bodies as "yucky" we can avoid our animality and interconnectedness, and set ourselves apart from and above nature.

You may also hear that cloth diapers, toilet wipes, and menstrual pads, and even handkerchiefs and washcloths, are unsanitary. Personally, I have been washing most of these items for my family for at least five years and have never had an incidence of related illness occur. Prior to the 1920s, there were no disposable toilet paper or menstrual pads or cotton balls, and no disposable diapers until the 1950s, and the vast majority of humans avoided dying of cholera or dysentery. Cloth toilet wipes were once considered a luxury for the wealthy, and are mentioned in King Henry VIII of England's palace account books. He did not die of a communicable disease. Basic handwashing after using the bathroom (which I hope you are already doing anyway) and segregating and disinfecting personal cloth in hot water and sunlight will prevent the spread of germs.

The final straw against the washing myth is that you never hear it about other disposable products. "Reuse" is one of the triumvirate of environmentalist principles: reduce, reuse, recycle. Have you ever heard anyone say that paper plates and plastic forks are more environmentally sustainable than ceramic and metal, since washing plates and flatware in the dishwasher uses so much water and energy? Or that we should all wear disposable paper clothes to save washing fabric garments? Or that plastic shopping bags and single-use plastic water bottles are better than reusable versions? No, because the argument is clearly ridiculous!