This week my mind was wrapped around ways that we can promote less paper towel usage. My researched was based on finding something else to replace paper towels and make drying our hands easier. The shake and fold technique is a good idea but how many people will be determined to do this every single time they want to get their hands dry? Furthermore, paper towels aren't just used for drying hands. They are sometimes used to clean off the kitchen counter, the bathroom sink, and many spills and messes. Therefore, people can't use the shake and fold method in such situations. It is estimated that the average American family uses between one to two rolls of paper towel each week. They need something else that can possibly replace these paper towels because so many of the paper towels are carelessly used. Possible choices that I have found include the cloth napkins and a new way, technology. The warm air hand dryers can be seen in many public toilets and they have spread world wide. It occurs that more people are switching to warm hand dryers and this can be a solution to reducing the usage and wastage of paper towels. Its hard to figure out a way that can help everyone without using lots of paper towels. Cloth napkins can be good but they can congregate lots of bacteria that will be harmful to us. The warm air hand dyer will be my next research and I will try to find out how it is better and safer to the environment than paper towels.
All the paper towels in our environment isn't good. I have found that 3,000 tons of used paper towels ends up in the US landfills everyday. 42% of all global wood harvest is for paper production. Every US household throws out the equivalent of four trees in paper waste. This shows that trees are greatly affected in the production of paper. Trees are overly wasted when paper is produced and even more when the paper is wasted by us. Therefore, the fault in paper is found in its production. Lots of carbon dioxide is released into the air during production and lots of trees and water is wasted. I have acquired all my facts from websites that usually are trying to raise awareness for paper pollution and its harmful effects in the environment. Websites such as GoingGreenToday.com and Carbonrally.com.
