How to Quit Using Paper Towels (and What to Use Instead)

Paper towels have become a standard part of most kitchens, which makes them easy to overlook — and worth examining a little more closely. They’re practical, familiar, and easy to reach for — which is exactly why they’re such an interesting place to pause, especially when you start thinking about how to quit using paper towels or simply rely on them less.

Replacing paper towels and napkins with reusable options is a good place to begin reducing waste and saving money in your kitchen. Paper products — even those made with recycled content — still require a significant amount of resources to produce, package, ship, and bring home, all for something designed to be used once and thrown away. And because paper towels are cheap and disposable, we tend to use more than we realize. We wipe, toss, and replace — and the cycle continues.

Producing paper towels means cutting trees, using large amounts of water and energy, and chemically bleaching the paper before it’s wrapped in plastic and transported. Per ton, paper production uses tens of thousands of litres of water and the equivalent of about seventeen full-grown trees. Once used, paper towels can’t be recycled, and when they break down in landfill they release methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas.

They also add up financially in ways that are easy to miss. A single roll doesn’t cost much, but most households go through multiple rolls a month — which, over the course of a year, can easily mean spending well over a hundred dollars on something designed to be thrown away.

Rethinking paper towels is a chance to look more closely at what using less can look like in a real home — one with spills, constraints, exceptions, and days where convenience still matters.

Prefer to listen instead? In this episode of the Sustainable in the Suburbs podcast, I’m walking you through everything in this post, as well as more comprehensive laundry and organization strategies, and what to do if everyone in your household isn’t on board.

Why We Use So Many Paper Towels — and a Simple Way to Stop

Paper towels are easy to overuse because they’re designed that way! They’re disposable by default, sold as a convenience product, and usually kept right in our kitchens where we can grab them without thinking. When something is always within reach and meant to be thrown away, it naturally gets used more often than necessary.

There’s also a bigger layer here around cleanliness. For decades, advertising has taught that “clean” means single-use. Paper towels, wipes, disposable napkins: the list goes on.

The simplest way to interrupt this pattern doesn’t involve buying anything or committing to a big change. It’s just moving the paper towel roll out of sight. Just… put it away. Out of sight, out of mind!

Putting it under the sink or in a cupboard creates a small pause. You still have access to it, but it’s no longer the automatic first move. That pause is often enough to reach for a dish towel instead, or to realize you don’t actually need a paper towel at all. Over time, most people notice they’re using fewer without trying particularly hard.

This is where a lot of people stop — and that’s fine! Even using paper towels less often makes a big difference. You don’t have to overhaul your kitchen or switch everything at once. Shifting the default, even slightly, changes the habit. Every small step adds up.

What to Use Instead of Paper Towels

Okay. So the roll of paper towels is in the cupboard. Now what?

The good news is that you probably already have what you need to get started. Old towels, worn dishcloths, and random linens tucked in a drawer can easily take the place of paper towels for everyday messes. As you start to think about adding or upgrading a few items, secondhand is a great place to look first. All of our cloth napkins are thrifted, for example. Pro tip: if stains bother you, choose reusables with busy patterns — they’re much more forgiving.

If you do decide to add a few sustainable alternatives, it’s worth taking a little time to figure out what actually works for your kitchen and your budget. I’ve included a few affiliate links to the reusables I use (and love!) in my own kitchen, if you are looking for a place to start.

Tea Towels & Rags

This is the simplest place to start, because it’s usually things you already have. Old kitchen towels, thrifted tea towels, worn dish towels, cut-up T-shirts, or squares of flannel sheets all work well for wiping spills, drying dishes, and general cleanup. Over time, towels tend to sort themselves into different roles. Some stay in rotation for drying dishes or hands. Others become the ones you grab for spills or cleaning. That system usually develops on its own, just by using them.

If you’re adding a few new towels to your rotation, fabric matters. I like these flour sack tea towels because they’re 100% cotton, lightweight, and surprisingly absorbent once they’ve been washed a few times. They dry quickly and don’t take up much space, which makes them easy to keep in regular rotation.

I also recently discovered these towels, made by a small, Canadian brand. Made from recycled plastic bottles, they’re ultra-absorbent, quick-drying, and lightweight — the kind of towel you can use throughout the day without it staying damp.

The key is keeping whatever you use easy to grab. A drawer, a basket on the counter, or even the spot where your paper towel roll used to live works fine. When towels are within reach, they naturally become the first thing you reach for.

Unpaper Towels

Unpaper towels are reusable cloths sized like paper towels, often designed to stick together so they can be rolled onto a standard paper towel holder. For some people, that familiar setup makes the transition easier — same motion, different habit.

They’re usually made of flannel, which tends to get more absorbent with repeated washing. Once they’re dirty, they just go into the laundry with other kitchen linens. Like everything else here, they settle into the routine quickly once they’re part of the system.

Swedish Dishcloths

Swedish dishcloths will have you converted the moment you start using them. Made from plant-based cellulose, they’re thin but very absorbent, and they work especially well for wiping counters, cleaning up spills, and everyday kitchen wipe-downs. In fact, just one Swedish dish cloth can replace up to 17 rolls of paper towel!

They’re easy to rinse out and reuse throughout the day, and they dry quickly when hung up between uses. That quick drying makes a big difference for freshness and longevity. I do recommend hanging them to dry after laundering to keep them in good shape. I have used some for up to two years before they are no longer usable, and they have they added bonus of being compostable.

Knitted or Crocheted Dishcloths

Hand-knit or crocheted dishcloths are another solid option, especially for washing dishes. The texture makes them good for scrubbing, and natural fibres like cotton or jute tend to be the most absorbent and durable. You can often find cotton yarn of various weight at the thrift store or your local Buy Nothing group.

Knitting your own reusable cloths is an easy beginner project that lets you learn a new skill while reducing waste at the same time. And if you already knit, this simple pattern makes it easy to build up a small stack quickly. Click here for my free PDF pattern for an easy, knitted dish cloth.

If you knit, or want to learn, this is also an easy project to try. I’ve shared a simple dishcloth pattern on the blog, along with a free PDF, if you want to make a few yourself.

What to Use Instead of Paper Napkins

Paper napkins are not terribly practical either. You need to use more than the equivalent of one tea towel and they are woefully ineffective when faced with their greatest enemy – a small child. Having a few cloth napkins on hand at home can help you to eliminate this waste and expense. To keep track of whose is whose, we leave them on our chairs after we have finished eating and launder after about a week. You can also take them out in the world with you as a napkin, plate, hand towel, food wrap, or impromptu bag.

• Cloth napkins! Full stop. We have been using the same 12 beige napkins for nearly a decade and while they are dingy, they work just fine.
• Worried about stains? Plaids, checks, and florals are your friends! I recently found 6 black, cotton napkins – a true unicorn thrift find for me.
• Check your local thrift store! They always have them when I go. Look for natural fibres first for maximum absorbency.

Where to Store Reusable Paper Towel Alternatives

A common question that comes up at this point is where all of this actually goes. The easiest way to think about it is to flip the question. Where are paper towels stored right now? In most homes, it’s one roll on the counter and the rest in a cupboard or pantry. Reusables don’t need more space than that — they just use the space differently.

In our house, most of it lives in one kitchen drawer. Tea towels for drying dishes. Knitted dishcloths for washing. Swedish dishcloths for spills and wipe-downs. That’s it. They’re rolled or folded, easy to grab, and right where you’d expect to find them. For cleaning towels, I keep a small basket in the laundry room. When something moves out of the kitchen rotation, it usually ends up there. Nothing fancy, no special system.

The main thing is accessibility. When reusables are easy to grab, they get used. When they’re tucked away somewhere inconvenient, they don’t. This doesn’t require reorganizing your kitchen — just shifting where a few things live.

Laundry & Care for Reusable Kitchen Towels

This part sounds like more work than it actually is, but I promise you that is not more laundry! Of course washing towels and napkins requires time and resources, but far less than the demand for new products on an endless basis. Over time, it becomes so routine that you stop noticing it at all.

In our house, we keep a small basket under the kitchen sink for soiled linens. If a cloth is wet, I hang it over the edge to dry first so it doesn’t get gross. When I’m doing a load of other household linens (like towels or sheets) I just dump in the basket and everything just goes in together and gets hung to dry. That load was happening anyway, so it’s really no big deal.

As towels age, they naturally get downgraded. Kitchen towels become cleaning towels. Cleaning towels become dog towels or bathroom towels. If you’re also using old towels for messier jobs, it can help to label them — DOG, TOILET, CAST IRON — with a permanent marker, or use a simple colour-coding system. Even just a giant X let’s you know that it’s that kind of towel. Whatever makes it easy to grab the right thing without thinking too hard!

And if you need to keep a roll or two of paper towels around for emergencies or truly gross cleanups, that’s fine! You can use up what you already have while you build a system of reusables that you’ll use long-term. And hey, life happens.

Have you gone paperless in the kitchen yet?

What challenges have you had? What has been successful for you?

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