Wouldn't using handkerchiefs be more environmental...?

Question

Than using Kleenex (or other brand--it's all called "Kleenex" where I live)?

The amount of trees used for the boxes and the tissues, the plastic that invariably becomes part of the packaging, as well as the glue, how much of it ends up in the landfill, the environmental effects of transportation and just making the disposable tissues...

Answer 1

ew! using the same hankie over and over? that's disgusting! but, yea, i guess it would be more enviromentally friendly.

Answer 2

Itd be nice if all of us didnt have to use either..LOL..Just think about it..If no one had to blow their nose let alone wear clothes..itd save on the water bill definetly..! Theyre constantly growing trees to replace trees..and the land fill some of that recycles itself back into the world..I would think that itd be unsanitary using the same handkerchief..especially having that constantly wet from getting rid of the infection from the cold/flu in your body..Its best and sanitary i would feel to use a new kleenex..to "throw away" the infection.." instead of get it back if immune system doesnt work properly..;)but then maybe ..Id just prefer kleenexs myself I do recycle as much plastics, cardboard, paper as I can..to offset other things that arent recyclable..;)..Take care and God Bless..;)

Answer 3

yes I do that, I use one for each day and then just wash them with my clothes when i do my washing! At home, instead of using paper towel, I use dish washing clothes. - My mother in law says. "well, in America, we all use paper towels". I find it funny at how much waste is produced by using paper towels and tissues!

I agree with you completely. I recycle as much as possible too. but is better to not use the paper based one time things to start with!

To the above response, - you are going to use all those things anyway when you do your normal clothe washing anyway! so a few extra little handkerchiefs do not make a big difference in the washing element, but they do make difference for wasting products!

Answer 4

I usually get through 1 hankie a day, but when I have a cold, I can get through a full box in a matter of 3 to 5 days, but Kleenex are convenient because it's better to use them, and throw the germs away with it.



Oddly enough, when I was in hospital for a couple of days 2 years ago, I noticed that they preferred paper towels to electric hand-dryers. The reasoning behind this was that the towels were disposable, whereas an electric hand dryer would just recycle the germs around the bathroom, and with the current furore over hospital bugs such as MRSA and Chlostridium Dificile etc.

Most hand towels and paper tissues are made from recycled paper wast anyway, so not too many trees have to be cut down in order to manufacture such stuff. Most pinewood forests are managed in such a way that they are able to keep them going without having to use any more land than they are already growing on.

The tissues I buy come in cardboard boxes (no plastic film) and I generally only use maybe 4 boxes a year, and the box gets recycled anyway.

Answer 5

No....you're forgetting that handkerchiefs need to be washed and that requires......

Water, a scarce natural resource.

Washing powder, that has to be manufactured with all the associated by-products of the process and disposed of safely.

Possibly even electricity if a machine is used, and that has to be generated at an environmental cost to the planet and transmitted around the country in cables that are made of either copper or aluminum strung from pylons made of steel all of which has to be mined from the earth.

So you see, there's much more to it than simply thinking tissues are wasteful simply because they are disposable.

Answer 6

It's a matter of sanitation verses ecology.  Sure cloth dishtowels and handkies are reuseable--but they also harbor germs which can (and are) transferred to anyone who touches them.  It is thought that that was one of the reasons the flu spread so fast and furious during the Great Flu epidemic--infected people used hankies, stuffed them in their pockets and every time their hands went into their pockets, germs got on clean hands and was spread around.  I know when I get a cold (haven't had the flu in 20 years), I go through boxes of disposable facial tissue because I don't want the germs from my last blow recontaminating me or anyone else.  Same with dish towels--bacteria love moist places to grow and they grow fast.  Unless you're willing to use a new hankie or dish towel after each use, you're basically allowing germs and bacteria to spread around.

Answer 7

Good for you!  

Paper tissues (Kleenex) are made from wood,  17 pine trees must be chopped to produce a ton of tissues.  In itself not environmentally friendly.  Tissues are also biodegradable - That means they will disappear and leave some CO2 behind.

The production of paper is also very polluting.  

Modern society however place themselves above the  environment and expect other to save it.

Answer 8

What about toilet tissue?   Do we need to start using washable material for that too?  (Now...that's a big  eewwwww)  (smile)