Itty Bitty Bonzai is a collection of tiny tips and tricks for living a life more mindful. Small actions, collectively and compounded, become a powerful force of change.
#8 So, we’ve all agreed that wasting paper is bad. We’ve canceled our newspaper subscription and we recycle all our mail and our ‘brown bag’ lunch comes in a canister. But unfortunately, 90% of our households are still reliant on one of the worst wasters of this limited resource: napkins.
It’s time to end it, guys! Paper towels and their ilk account for 3,000 tons of landfill waste each year. That’s millions of trees – trashed. Is it really worth the perceived convenience?
Instead of traditional paper products, try using dishrags around the kitchen. Rip up old towels for dirty cleaning jobs. Dine in style with cotton napkins. Stash a hankie in your satchel (or your back pocket, for fashion and for function!) so you won’t ever get caught unawares. Add a small cloth to your packed lunches (or your kids’), and keep a supply in the glovebox, too. It’s so easy to cut out unnecessary paper, and once it’s habitual, you’ll wonder why it took you so long.
And just in case you’re wondering, it takes less than half the energy of paper production, to fabricate and then re-clean a cloth towel over its lifetime.
BONZAI!
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http://maidensfam.blogspot.com/ Don
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http://jcaddell.wordpress.com JLC
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Meghan
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http://www.travellious.com Austin
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http://flightsofthevalkyrie.blogspot.com/ Valerie
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http://garethlewin.com Gareth
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Joy
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Meghan
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Meghan
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http://www.herveryown.com akeeyu
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http://www.elf-design.com Erin
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http://homegrowntexan.blogspot.com Homegrown Texan
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http://twitter.com/erosan EroSan