Paper towels: you may love them, you may hate them, but they
are a part of most everyone’s life. Call me a super-freaky-hippy chick, but I
try to avoid paper towels whenever possible. In my house we use cloth towels to
dry our hands, wet wash cloths to clean up messes, and cloth napkins when we
eat a particularly messy meal.
Even trying to avoid them, they still come in handy
occasionally (I have two kids and a cat; use your imagination). So the question
remains, can you put them in your backyard compost bin? The answer depends on
what you cleaned up with that paper towel.
Greasy Paper Towels? Nope
If you use a paper towel to clean up oil, butter, or
anything greasy do not put that towel in your compost. Oil and grease
push air out of your compost, creating havens for anaerobic bacteria (the smelly kind you want to avoid). Throw greasy paper towels in the
garbage.
Chemically Paper Towels? Nope
Using strong cleaning products with your paper towels? Also
throw these chemical-laden paper towels in the trash. You don’t know how they
will affect your macro and microorganism friends hanging out in your bin.
This also goes for paper towels covered in "green" cleaning products as well. Even green cleaners strive to kill bacteria and we do not want to invite that into our compost bin.
All Other Paper Towels? Yep
Paper towels not filled with grease or chemicals will
decompose quickly in your compost bin. They are considered a brown or carbon
rich material and can substitute for leaves if you are running low.
A paper towel with dirt, water, or plant-based food is perfectly welcome
in your compost bin.
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A peak inside my home kitchen collector. |
In our office we collect paper towels from hand-drying and
mix them into our compost bin along with our fruit and
vegetable scraps. The
towels decompose quickly after getting wet.
In addition to being an unapologetic hippy, I am also a
pretty big cheapskate and never buy the super thick, fancy quilted paper
towels. Has anyone had luck composting this kind? Leave a comment below.