PeopleTowels, not public restroom paper towels
January 26th, 2010
I have to admit, I was underwhelmed by a lot of the green products at the Go Green Expo last Friday. It’s not Go Green Expo’s fault — the show was certainly jam-packed with all the latest and greatest eco-gadgets and whatnots — but seeing row upon row of bamboo tote bags and BPA-free water bottles made me wonder: Is green consumer an oxymoron? All this stuff is green, but it is just stuff, after all. Aren’t we going to have to move away from a consumption-based economy to achieve true sustainability? (I asked this very question at the Build Green, Grow Profits panel I attended.)
That being said, I don’t want to be a total buzzkill for those of you who didn’t get to go to the show and pass judgment on all that green gear: There was one really cool product that caught my eye, mostly for the Wow, will people really go this green? factor. Green people, I give you PeopleTowels!
Made of 100 percent organic cotton, the PeopleTowel is a personal hand towel to use in lieu of paper towels or those energy-sucking dryers in public restrooms. The eco stats are impressive, and could really add up if enough people made the switch: Use PeopleTowels for a year, and you’ll reduce landfill waste by 23 pounds and save 250 gallons of water.
Evidently, personal hand towels have been all the rage in germ-phobic Japan for decades, but I am curious to see how the American market reacts. While I’ll enjoy looping my PeopleTowel around my Kleen Kanteen to tote with me to my Kundalini yoga class (how annoying am I?), I can’t really imagine my husband shlepping one of these around in his jeans pocket every day. Then again, we don’t live in New York City anymore, where we had to deal with disgusting public restrooms day in and day out. PeopleTowels are green and clean — that’s twice the motivation.
–Jennifer Grayson
Do this now: Spread the word — buy a PeopleTowel or two online and use it proudly the next time you hit a public restroom.
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Paperless Post: Finally! Gorgeous online invites
Green wedding: Give up the gift wrap
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January 26th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
On the topic of paper towels in public restrooms, these stickers are on the paper towel dispensers in most of the bathrooms I use on the UC Davis campus. I still usually dry my hands with a towel, but it makes me think twice about taking a second if my hands are still wet.
http://thesecomefromtrees.blogspot.com/
January 26th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Very cool! But do the “These Come From Trees” stickers come from trees?
January 31st, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Dry my hands… And then what???? Stick the wet towel in my purse? Does not sound so nice to me. Great marketing, but it is a wash cloth that has a design on it for $7.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Good point, Shellie. I’ve been testing mine out, and was trying to come up with a clever solution for this problem. For now, I’ve been looping the towel on the mouth of my reusable water bottle, but I was going to email the owner of the company to ask for other suggestions. After all, the Japanese have been using personal hand towels for years and years now — what do they do with the damp towels?
June 28th, 2010 at 10:52 am
PeopleTowels is in The Beat Waste Startup Challenge, if you love BYOT(towel); please take a minute to vote for us and help us spread our message far and wide! Deadline is July 2. Please vote here: http://www.myoocreate.com/challenges/the-plastiki-beat-waste-startup-challenge/entries/306
Thank you!
June 28th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Thanks for letting me know — you’ve got my vote!