======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ==== ======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ====
I didn’t realize I was part of the problem until last Saturday, ten minutes after I had finished cooking a three egg omelette and hash browns. I looked at the smattering of dirty kitchen utensils and pans in my farmhouse sink which had just been used to cook my meal and realized that I was fresh out of paper towel. I had used the last few pieces of PT to place under my plate to act as a napkin, and I probably used 20 percent of the paper towel on my face before tossing it into my trash can.
I don’t subscribe to the notion predicated by baby boomers that millennials are killing off everything that they once held dear, but upon realizing that I was out of paper towel, I conceded that myself and the rest of the folks in their mid-20s may have rendered the napkin obsolete.
This isn’t a “me” problem – this is a large scale sweeping epidemic. I don’t remember the last time I bought napkins and I’m sure many of you reading this don’t remember, either. The paper towel has become an every-use piece for my group of like-minded and similarly aged peoples.
I walk into apartments and homes of friends who are around my age and I don’t see napkins. Everyone uses the paper towel in place of it and it feels like we may never fully get back to a world where the napkin and PT can coexist. PT dominates the landscape and the way my age group acts I’m not sure I can be of much help.
I use PT to dry dishes, pots, and pans that I wash in the sink or that have just come out of a hot dishwasher. I use PT for their intended use, the wiping up of crumbs or anything else that may land on the kitchen counter or on the dining room table. Most importantly, though, I use PT in place of napkins because why buy napkins when I’ve already got PT, right?
It doesn’t really make sense when you think about it. It’s not cost-effective because paper towel isn’t exactly cheap, and should only be used for large-scale messes, yet myself and my three roommates are using it to wipe off minuscule amounts of food that get on our faces.
The paper towel was not created with the intended use of replacing the napkin and it never should have been, but somewhere along the way myself, droves of other millennials just forgot that the napkin existed.
Napkins aren’t even that expensive, but when one is at the grocery store and items start to pile up in the cart the napkin is a forgotten item. There’s also that line of thinking that I briefly mentioned – why buy napkins when you’ve already got paper towel?
The environmental impact alone is something to be concerned about. I would be lying to you if I told you that I have always cared deeply about the environment. Two years ago I wrote this. But that was when I was 24. I was pretty goddamn selfish and had no regard for how my carbon footprint affected others. I’m 26 now and my outlook on our deteriorating environment has changed drastically. Paper towel is only a small portion of that outlook, but it’s something that I’m glad I’m addressing now rather than later in my life. PT (and napkins for that matter) are a part of our throw-away culture. Both PT and napkins do serious harm to the environment during their creation and make massive amounts of waste when they’re thrown away.
Big Paper Towel will tell you that they’re committed to environmentally friendly practices but we all know that’s not true. I’ve got blood on my hands now, and even though napkins are not much better than paper towel, I know that I can cut down on using PT by using napkins instead.
I would say that we should all start using cloth napkins, but that’s wildly unrealistic. Baby steps, guys. Let’s move away from using PT for everything first and then maybe in a few years we can talk about cloth napkins. Just think about this next time you’re in the kitchen and about to reach for a fresh paper towel to use for your hands and face. Let’s get napkins back to work, eh? .
Image via Unsplash
Respond
jduda@grandex.co
I’m convinced that people who don’t use dish towels to dry kitchenware or counter-tops etc. after washing are still getting bankrolled by their parents.
Pisses me off to no end when my roommates use PT over the cloth dish rags/tea towels. Which I obviously wash separately so my laundry doesn’t smell like ass.
Cloth dish rags are a great investment. We have a stack of plain ones that we use in place of paper towels in our kitchen, with a crate to throw them in when they get dirty. In addition to the plain, we have seasonal/holiday hand towels that hang to give us something to dry our hands with and add some nice decoration.
Or we have Costco memberships and are always fully stocked with extremely affordable Kirkland Sig Paper-T’s
Okay
When you were 24 and selfish? Come on Duda, let’s not pretend. You left Texas and became indoctrinated in the liberal mindset of Chicago.
He went to Austin, not exactly the most conservative city.
I just use the sides of whatever chair I’m sitting in the wipe my hands. As for drying dishes, they usually sit out on the counter to “air dry” until my wife puts them away
Also, Dave, just wanted to say your beard is the “Will’s Instagram” of beards. Keep up the good work
Glad you’re on my team.
Wow Duda, this is some heavy hitting shit.
I’m feeling attacked..
My wife has napkin holders all over the kitchen/tables and yet I still use paper towel. I can’t change who I am.
Dish towels work well — napkin, easy to dry dishes, & washable
This reminds me of an old show I saw called Extreme Cheapskates, where a lady had reusable toilet paper in her house and the other parents didn’t want their kids going over there.
I… I…. how??? What??? I have so many questions
Paper towels*