Is Bamboo Paper Towel an Eco-Friendly Option?

Pause for a second and come to think of it. You work in your kitchen, carrying out varieties of house chores, cleaning the bathroom, making breakfast for your kids, and the like. At intervals, you reach for an old rag or some random tissues to wipe off dirt particles from your hands. But over the years, the use of paper towels has gained prominence in household management and has rapidly pushed aside the use of upcycled rags in cleaning ourselves after carrying out household chores. When it comes to wiping dust off the shelf or soaking up spilled liquid, paper towels stand out as a more suitable option because of their versatility and absorbency. They are much easier to use, and as well durable.

However, using tree-based paper towels seems not to provide satisfying utility in its usage. So why go for tree-based paper towels, when bamboo paper towels stand as a sustainable option?

Bamboos are natural plants that tend to regenerate every four to five months after harvest, which is unlike trees that don’t regenerate or cannot be reharvested. And when these products are being produced in the right order, they stand to be a lot better than other paper towels in terms of absorbency and durability. If you’re a constant user of paper towels, then bamboo towels are the perfect option for you. The neatness of your home also makes for good hygiene, remember?

Irrespective of having “paper” included in its name, bamboo paper towels are not in any way composed of paper. They are constructed out of the fibers of sturdy bamboo, and these paper sheets are much easier to use. They come in the form of rolls, which makes them feel normal like other paper towels. The perforated lines make it easy to tear off just one towel sheet at a time for your use. These bamboo towels have also been proven to absorb liquid faster than normal paper towels.

Is bamboo paper towels an eco-friendly alternative?

One major question on the lips of potential customers is as regards the biodegradability of bamboo paper towels. And the ignorance of the answer to this question has left some buyers with mixed feelings. On a normal ground, the fact that bamboo is grown without the application of fertilizers, irrigation, or pesticides, makes it an eco-friendly produce, unlike produce like cotton and other plants.

Bamboo paper towels are eco-friendly products and do not contain any form of dyes or toxic chemicals that are capable of bringing harm to the environment. Bamboo towels are also purely biodegradable, in that they are capable of being decomposed by the occurrence of biological activities, especially by microorganisms. However, since being able to biodegrade is a quality that determines its eco-friendliness, it only degrades if these paper towels are allowed to. In essence, bamboo paper towels are biodegradable depending on where, and how, they are being disposed of.

To this effect, when bamboo paper towels get disposed of at a landfill site, they will undergo a biodegradation process. But consequent to this, this biodegradation process will happen at a much slower rate if paper towels are being disposed of in a plastic refuse bin or an aluminum container. In addition to this, bamboo paper towels stand a higher possibility of biodegrading anaerobically (without oxygen) when disposed of in a landfill, which stains the atmosphere with methane. But it is more eco-friendly when it degrades aerobically (with oxygen).

In line with this, bamboo paper towels are capable of decomposing into fertilizer or manure, which stands as the most efficient and eco-friendly means of disposing of the materials after use. However, it is paramount to ensure that used paper towels are not mixed up with particles that could be hazardous to your compost, such as chemicals like paint, cloth wrappings, and other materials like these.

Although bamboo towels are not in themselves perfect in terms of their price tags and affordability, they stand out amongst other forms of paper towels and old rags and tissues paper as one of the best in the paper towel industry. The amazing aspect of bamboo towels is, there are some varieties of this product that can be reused! Instead of disposing of it after use, you simply wash the used towel and air dry, unlike other tree-based paper towels. This makes towels thicker than their usual texture. Although reusable bamboo is more expensive compared to other paper towel brands, it will save you extra dollars for other expenses.

In a nutshell, bamboo paper towels are 100% biodegradable products, easy to use, and absorb liquid more effectively than other paper towels. So why go for a rag torn out of an old t-shirt, when you have a more reliable product that serves you to your fullest satisfaction?