I go through a lot of paper towels. It's terribly un-green of me, but I spend so much time in the kitchen and washing my hands, kitchen towels are wet and dirty and useless in minutes. I go through a lot of them too, trying to trade off. But of course that means more laundry
I really hate throwing away wads of wet paper towels though.
Another heavy drain on paper towels is Mazy cat's puking. I go through a lot of them when cleaning up her messes too.
A few weeks ago I had a brilliant idea and I don't know why I never thought of it before. Considering most of my paper towel use in the kitchen is from working with raw meat, I don't feel comfortable re-using them. Not for my hands anyway. Or wiping counters (after the first use I mean).
But I thought, why can't I wash them (in the dish pan) rinse them out, let them dry, stack them up downstairs (where Mazy cat usually runs to puke) and use them to clean up cat puke?
(downstairs is just my entryway, littler boxes, the water pressure tank, and the hot water heater, on a cement floor. The stairs are carpeted. Of course I keep rolls of paper towels down there too. Now I keep stacks of pre-used paper towels too)
It's working quite well. So now I feel a little better about the paper waste, and it cuts costs too.