Kitchen paper vs. tea towels

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Kitchen paper vs. tea towels

Downsizer Forum Index -> Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

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Brownbear

Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14929
Location: South West

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 6:56 pm Post subject: Kitchen paper vs. tea towels
Which is more environmentally friendly to use in a commercial kitchen (meaning, in above-domestic quantities), recycled paper rolls that can then be composted, or tea towels that then have to be boil-washed with detergent?

resistance is fertile

Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 1534
Location: The heart of North Devon

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 7:01 pm Post subject:
recycled paper which is then composted to be returned to the soil sounds good to me but you would need to factor in how much paper towel (production energy + Bleach?)would be used in the time it took for a tea towel to be unhygienic and need boiling (fuel) and detergented (chemical processing+ packaging+potential pollution)

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 7:34 pm Post subject:
I find a terrier quite good for dealing with spills and moppages.

gardening-girl

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 6024
Location: Somerset.

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 7:35 pm Post subject:
Working in a commercial kitchen there is no choice, paper! Too much cross contamination can happen with t-towels.

Brownbear

Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14929
Location: South West

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 8:31 pm Post subject:
[quote="gardening-girl"]Working in a commercial kitchen there is no choice, paper! Too much cross contamination can happen with t-towels.[/quote Not if you chuck them straight in the washing basket after use.

resistance is fertile

Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 1534
Location: The heart of North Devon

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 8:46 pm Post subject:

Brownbear wrote:

gardening-girl wrote:

Working in a commercial kitchen there is no choice, paper!
Too much cross contamination can happen with t-towels.

Not if you chuck them straight in the washing basket after use.

Maybe you could PM that 'Eco-Balls laundry magnet vibrational detergent' guy if you really want to save the planet

Brownbear

Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14929
Location: South West

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 09 9:02 pm Post subject:
Fair enough, screw the planet. Paper towels are cheaper and make an amusing bonfire if you save them up for a week.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 09 8:37 am Post subject:

a while ago we bought a box of 100 plain white cotton tea towels from a place that prints novelty items, they ended up costing 18p each that way.

At a couple of banquets we've used them as mopping up towels, using them once then chucking them straight in a box which goes straight in a boilwash when we get home. Seemed to work pretty well that way, though the ones that were used to manhandle hot pans have got rather discoloured.

We ended up using all 100 over the course of a 12 hour cooking session cooking 9 courses for 40 people- dunno if thats a normal amount or makes us messy cooks- but again, we werent risking cross contamination, so they got used once then piled for washing.

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 09 10:15 am Post subject:
Don't forget to factor in the time taken to wash reusables, and the space needed to dry them, both are overheads on your business. Do you want to spend (say) half an hour a day washing, hanging, folding towels or would you rather spend the time doing something else? What will you do on days when you can't line dry? Use an electric drier? Have them draped round the living room?

gardening-girl

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 6024
Location: Somerset.

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 09 4:14 pm Post subject:
Must say that paper towels were not our choice. But the local EHO said that we had to go with them. We also debated those silver pan scourers,bleach, and the eternal arguement about nail brushes!.All no no,s

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