PeopleTowels is a new concept in green living on the go. I’m not sure how much a concept like this might catch on, but it’s intriguing in any case. PeopleTowels are 100% organic cotton, reusable personal hand towels that make going green as easy as drying your hands. These are personal use towels meant to be carried with you on-the-go which will eliminate the need for paper towels or electric hand air dryers when you’re out and about.
Of course there are benefits. To make all the many rolls of paper towels humans use and discard each year, this country (among others) uses plenty of trees and energy – according to some estimates one ton of paper towels uses up a full 17 trees and pollutes 20,000 gallons of water. If all of us in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels with one roll of 100% recycled paper towels we could save 544,000 trees a year according to NRDC. However, even with recycled paper towels we’re using energy, water and other resources, so the clear winner in the how to dry your hands debate is cloth hand towels. Even after you factor in washing hand towels you’re still ahead of the game when it comes to green living. Especially since you can use cloth towels to death (for cleaning after they suck as hand towels).
About PeopleTowels:
- Small enough to carry anywhere
- Made with custom-made organic and fabric that is absorbent enough to dry your hands, yet dries quickly.
- Hangtags allow you to easily clip or loop your PeopleTowel to your backpack, belt buckle or purse.
- Designed to last for years.
- Machine washable.
- 100% Certified Fair Trade product.
- Designs are silk screened with eco-friendly dyes.
- Minimal amount of product packaging used; all made from 100% post consumer waste.
- The company is a member of 1% for the Planet.
- Manufactured according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
- By simply switching to PeopleTowels, the average American can probably avoid using an average of 3,000 paper towels every year.
Any issues that popped out to me?
The company notes that PeopleTowels are a zero waste product which to me seems a little bit like a false claim. They may not overly contribute to harmful practices like deforestation and the growing problems of paper waste, excessive water consumption and pollution but I didn’t find anything at the site about a clean energy manufacturing process or buying back the carbon used for shipping. They note that their supply chain is chosen specifically for high, verifiable sustainability standards but unless the company has a totally paper-free office, runs their tech gear on green energy and so on they’re not technically “zero-waste”. Zero-waste is very hard to achieve.
I haven’t tried these, but in my mind I can’t see how these would dry quickly enough to make them perfectly manageable. I’m all for cloth towels. I haven’t bought or used any paper towels in my own home in literally years – and to be honest don’t always dry my hands when I’m out and about because of the paper towel issue (flutter your hands a bit in the air and they dry).You can get an little eco-carry sack from the company to go with your towel though.
That said:
I still like the idea of PeopleTowels because one, it’s a small easy step that many people could take and while small it’s one of those great steps that add up. Two, it’s an affordable green option. I was impressed with PeopleTowel pricing; you cannot beat adorable ORGANIC towels priced just $21 for three ($35 for five). The price is totally affordable especially when you factor in how much paper towels cost individuals and the planet.
Three I love, love, love the designs. Right now they’ve got three lovely design options (3 packs); but you can also get a five pack. I think I like the Uno, Dos, Trees set best (see above) but all the other towels are super cute as well. They have designs that will suit both girly girls and full blown guys and everyone in between; plus offer the option to create your own mix-and-match set (see gallery below for all design options).
PS Now is a great time to try PeopleTowels because they’ve got a great Valentine’s Day deal happening – three Love towels for just $18. Visit PeopleTowels to learn more.
[images via PeopleTowels]
Post from: Blisstree