Paper towels are the absolute easiest throwaway item to replace in your kitchen. We’ve teamed up with Swedish Dishcloths company Swedish Wholesale to introduce you to their reusable eco-friendly dish cloths by sharing 5 ways reusable dish cloths are better than paper towels.

1. They’re more convenient. When you stock up on reusable dish cloths, you always have a few on hand. You can use them for your regular cleaning or pull one out in case of an unexpected spill. Because you don’t run out of them, you’ll never find yourself making an emergency run to the store to buy some. When a crisis like the Corona virus pandemic strikes, you won’t have to put yourself in a compromised position going out to get paper towels.

2. They save money. It’s a no brainer that buying something once that you can reuse over and over again saves more money than buying something once, throwing it away, and then buying the replacement. Swedish dish cloths last at least as long as 15 rolls of paper towels. If one cloth costs you $2, and each roll of paper towels costs around $1, that means 15 rolls of paper towels cost $15 – but you spend only $2 on a cloth. You could save at least $13 with every cloth you use.

3. They create less throwaway trash. Every year 13 billion pounds of paper towels are sent to landfills. Paper towels themselves are specifically designed to be thrown away. They come wrapped around a cardboard core you throw away, too.  Swedish reusable dish cloths are made from biodegradable cellulose and cotton, and can be composted, so there’s no trash along the spectrum.

4. They avoid plastic. Paper towels usually come wrapped in throwaway plastic. If you use a synthetic sponge, that’s actually plastic, as well. Reusable dish cloths skip the plastic in favor of eco-friendly cellulose and cotton that will biodegrade.

5. They create less kitchen clutter. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t have room in my kitchen or pantry for 15 rolls of paper towels – or even a six-pack! All I want in my kitchen sink or on the drainboard are one or two reusable dish cloths.  Here’s a stack of 10 reusable dish cloths. That would be the equivalent of 150 rolls of paper towels!!

NOTE: Swedish dish cloths dry hard. The benefit of this is that they don’t get smelly the way a sponge that stays damp does. But that also means that before you use it, give it a quick run under your kitchen faucet to dampen it up a bit. That will make it super absorbent and pliable. Also, lay these dish cloths out flat to dry after you use them. Then you can stand them up in your kitchen sink drainer for quick access whenever you need them.

Also, these dish cloths really do function more like sponges or paper towels than kitchen tea towels. You wouldn’t use them to dry a glass or a plate; you would use them to wash out a glass or wipe off a plate, as well as wipe down counters, walls, and floors as needed.

To wash Swedish dish cloths, throw them in the dishwasher; rinse them out with hot soapy water when you’re doing the dishes, or toss them in the washing machine, as long as you’re not adding fabric softener to the wash. Don’t put them in the dryer; just lay them out flat to dry.

You can get more information about Swedish reusable dish cloths here.

Want to get your own Swedish Dish Cloths? You can find them on Amazon here (my affiliate link, FYI). You can get a 10 pack for only $19.99, plus free delivery if you’re a Prime member.

NOTE: Partnerships with companies like Swedish Wholesale help us bring you the expert content you need to live the greener life you want. All editorial positions are our own.

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Needless to say, given these impacts, I’m not a big fan of paper that’s produced just to be used once and thrown away. What’s in that category? Paper towels. Paper napkins. Paper face tissue. Disposable wipes made from paper. Toilet paper (well, okay, I tolerate toilet paper).

Why not use cloth? In every category except toilet paper, cloth offers a cheaper and more eco-friendly option. Cloth towels and napkins can easily replace their paper counterparts and save consumers hundreds of dollars a year. When they wear out, they can be used as rags and wipe-up cloths. A cloth towel or napkin has a useful life of years, compared to the seconds a paper towel has value.

Why the rant? Because I just received an e-mail from the Marcal paper company extolling the virtues of their “Small Steps Save-a-Tree” Paper Towel Design Contest. The contest is urging “artists and tree lovers of all ages” to submit original drawings that show their love for trees. The winner of the contest will be flown to California to “hug a giant tree.” The winning drawings will be used to promote Marcal products – throwaway paper products.

Now, Marcal is more virtuous than many other paper companies. It makes all of its paper products from recycled paper as opposed to pulp from virgin forests. It does not use chlorine to bleach its paper, and it adds no dyes or fragrances.

The problem is, it still makes paper designed to be used once and thrown away. Which begs the question: apart from toilet paper, should Marcal (or any company, for that matter), be in the throwaway paper business at all?

Campaigns like the Small Steps Save-a-Tree Design Contest make consumers feel good about using throwaway products. That’s wrong. Marcal and other companies would do the planet a world of good if they encouraged consumers to use cloth instead of throwaway paper.

By the way, what do you think the carbon footprint will be of the person they fly to California to hug that tree?

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