Ask a cook: Cloth or paper towels in the kitchen

My cut at paper towel usage and contamination is the following:

I use a cloth dish towel periodically but not in conjunction with cooking or preparing meat or fish. I try to not use it to clean counters when preparing foods that might add bad bacteria...dairy, meat or fish.

Instead, I use the Handiwipes and/or micro-fiber cloths - handwashing with some sanitary soap at the sink.

Paper towels contribute, however minorly, to human exposure to this carcinogen, as do/does white coffee fliters. This wouldn't be as bad and alarming but paper towels aren't the ONLY way you get exposed to dioxin:

Another thought is that I hate how many trees get used up and turned to pulp to make tooth picks, paper napkins and paper towels. I hope the day comes when they are no longer used for this purpose - hopefully, before the trees all become extinct.

Paper towels, computer paper (and the mfr of them) use dioxin which is the carcinogenic bleaching agent used to get the material white. I, for one, try HARD not to put anything back into the trash stream that uses it. I have no quantitative idea what the use of materials that contain dioxon in the home is that leaches out into your body. I've read that it's small but any amount is not acceptable to me. Kind of like the FDA's 'acceptable' rate of rat hairs they allow in cereal and in candy bars - one rat hair is one too many.

I try to use microfiber (polyester) cloth 'rags'. I wash them often and reuse them.

I also use Handi-Wipes, those blue-and-white-striped multi-use handwashable (even machine washable) fiber-paper cloths. You can get 20 plus uses out of them before tossing in the trash stream. It takes the place of using 20-30 white paper towels - far less waste of tress from usage of pulp.

When I wash the handi-wipes I use very hot water and some Dawn (great degreaser) dish soap, wring out and maybe a second wash and wringout cycle then let it air dry. I use one spearate one just for counters and another for when I cook meat or fish cleanup.

I use paper towels.

I think there's more bacteria spread and food contamination happening when using kitchen towels.

I often use an apron, however.

Thanks for your information, Ragman.

We use both cloth and paper much as you do: "I try to use microfiber (polyester) cloth 'rags'. I wash them often and reuse them." Every time we have clothing in our washing machine, it is also loaded with lots of microfiber cloths.

BBB

^5 (high 5).

Waving ~~~~my reusable cloths, microfiber rags and my do-rag at 'ya!