Brownbear
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Kitchen paper vs. tea towelsWhich is more environmentally friendly to use in a commercial kitchen (meaning, in above-domestic quantities), recycled paper rolls that can then be composted, or tea towels that then have to be boil-washed with detergent?
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resistance is fertile
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recycled paper which is then composted to be returned to the soil sounds good to me but you would need to factor in how much paper towel (production energy + Bleach?)would be used in the time it took for a tea towel to be unhygienic and need boiling (fuel) and detergented (chemical processing+ packaging+potential pollution)
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Gervase
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I find a terrier quite good for dealing with spills and moppages. 
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gardening-girl
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Working in a commercial kitchen there is no choice, paper!
Too much cross contamination can happen with t-towels.
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Brownbear
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[quote="gardening-girl"]Working in a commercial kitchen there is no choice, paper!
Too much cross contamination can happen with t-towels.[/quote
Not if you chuck them straight in the washing basket after use.
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resistance is fertile
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| Brownbear wrote: | | gardening-girl wrote: | Working in a commercial kitchen there is no choice, paper!
Too much cross contamination can happen with t-towels. |
Not if you chuck them straight in the washing basket after use. |
Maybe you could PM that 'Eco-Balls laundry magnet vibrational detergent' guy if you really want to save the planet 
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Brownbear
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Fair enough, screw the planet. Paper towels are cheaper and make an amusing bonfire if you save them up for a week.
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sally_in_wales
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a while ago we bought a box of 100 plain white cotton tea towels from a place that prints novelty items, they ended up costing 18p each that way.
At a couple of banquets we've used them as mopping up towels, using them once then chucking them straight in a box which goes straight in a boilwash when we get home. Seemed to work pretty well that way, though the ones that were used to manhandle hot pans have got rather discoloured.
We ended up using all 100 over the course of a 12 hour cooking session cooking 9 courses for 40 people- dunno if thats a normal amount or makes us messy cooks- but again, we werent risking cross contamination, so they got used once then piled for washing.
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marigold
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Don't forget to factor in the time taken to wash reusables, and the space needed to dry them, both are overheads on your business. Do you want to spend (say) half an hour a day washing, hanging, folding towels or would you rather spend the time doing something else? What will you do on days when you can't line dry? Use an electric drier? Have them draped round the living room?
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gardening-girl
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Must say that paper towels were not our choice. But the local EHO said that we had to go with them.
We also debated those silver pan scourers,bleach, and the eternal arguement about nail brushes!.All no no,s
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