Easy Everyday Sustainable Swap: Cloth Napkins

Oh yes, the cloth napkin. This is something I'm guilty of.

Scenario: you're at a restaurant and all they offer are paper napkins. You carry around your reusable water bottle, metal chop sticks and bamboo fork in your oversized purse wherever you go, but you just can't jump on the add-a-cloth-napkin-to-the-mix train quite yet. So you use the paper napkin. I tell myself things like, "I can just compost it when I get home" and "at least it isn't plastic."

Is it really so bad?

My research says: it's not great.

According to this article, a year's worth of paper napkins creates 7.5 pounds of greenhouse-gas emissions and uses 24.5 gallons of water (these emissions do not include what the paper releases while it breaks down). A year's worth of cloth napkins creates 3.9 pounds of greenhouse-gas emissions and uses 43.3 gallons of water if you launder them just once a week. A better solution are linen napkins, which create 1.9 pounds of greenhouse-gas emissions and use 8.9 gallons of water.

Linen is made from flax, which not only tastes delicious but also uses less water to grow. Cotton requires a lot of water (for example, the cotton needed to make a single t-shirt takes 2,700 liters of water) and cotton is an extremely pesticide-heavy crop. It's hard to quantify all of the damage those pesticides do to our soil, and what happens when they get into our water systems, and our bodies.

So what to do?

I recommend always using cloth napkins when you're able - yes, they take more water but produce a lot less emissions. Furthermore, there is so much cloth in this world! Purchase cloth napkins second hand or swaths of cloth such as sheets, table cloths, and even certain articles of clothing second hand and make your own napkins. This will not only save you money but also prevent one more item going into a landfill (which also reduces emissions!). And if you do purchase new napkins, opt for linen ones or at the very least, organic cotton ones to cut down on pesticide use. Wash them only once a week and line dry them if you can. All of these actions really add up!

Here's a neat graph I found:

If you are faced with a paper napkin as your only option while you're out and about, use just one instead of the usual three (according to a study conducted by Jackson Marketing Group in 2012, most people use at least three paper napkins per sitting). Take the paper napkin home and compost it, adding to the "brown" waste component of your bin. When using a public restroom, always use the hand dryer instead of paper towels. You can also just dry your hands on your clothes.

Thanks always for reading and everything you do!