Most recently Kleenex came out with their cure for the dirty, germ infested hand towel. The Kleenex Hand Towel. They’re free of inks, dyes and fragrances. According to their website, they use 100% virgin fibre and yes, you can recycle the box containers. Kimberley-Clark, who owns the Kleenex name goes on about how they donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to environmental causes for an “environmental project will have environmental benefits for the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, a major global pulp producing region that provides 30 percent of our fiber”. They also claim that “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for hand washing recommends hand drying with a single-use towel to help reduce the spread of germs.”
My thoughts?
I don’t think we need another unnecessary product out there that contributes to deforestation and our landfills. I think it’s wonderful that they donate to the recovery of the earth’s forests. But for a company that uses “100% virgin fibre” for it’s disposable hand towels, it makes you wonder if they’re just donating to help themselves feel better. But trees and garbage aside, why waste money on disposable hand towels when you can just wash your hand towel and re-use it? Can we become any more disposable? I used to laugh at the thought of disposable underwear. Well, this goes along with it. Disposable hand towels in the home are a huge waste to the trees that they were made from and a waste to the money you’re using to buy them.
After hearing about this product I googled it and found a fellow blogger writing about the same thing (http://goodgreenwitch.blogspot.com). In fact they found a very interesting fact. The CDC never made any sort of recommendation about hand drying with single-use towels reduce the spread of germs. The CDC denies ever making such a recommendation. And when Kimberley-Clark was written to about this, they were yet to receive a response...Very interesting Kimberley-Clark. It’s amazing what companies will do to sell a product...even falsify claims from the CDC.
So all in all. Kleenex Hand Towels are a waste of money and not needed in any household. That’s my 2 cents.
