Four Napkins, Five Dinners

After dinner, a trash can may hold a pile of used paper napkins. For a family that tosses these napkins away, switching to cloth can mean less trash. The heading "Use It Again" names the main reason: cloth napkins can be washed instead of thrown away.

Imagine four people each using one paper napkin at dinner. Over five dinners, they would throw away twenty napkins. Four reusable cloth napkins could take their place if they were washed and dried before each new dinner. The same four squares would return to the table.

Cloth napkins are often sturdy, or strong enough to last through many uses. A food spot does not mean a cloth napkin is finished. Washing can make it ready for another meal. The family does not need to replace it after every dinner.

A simple routine can help the family keep using cloth. Put clean napkins in a basket near the table. After dinner, put dirty ones with the laundry. Keeping clean cloth napkins easy to reach makes it easier to choose them instead of paper.

Even a worn napkin may still be useful. If its edges become thin, it can become a dust rag. This gives the cloth another job before it finally needs to go into the trash.

A reminder card could show a napkin beside a laundry basket. Its caption could read, "Wash, dry, and use again." Cloth napkins will not remove every kind of kitchen trash. But using the same squares again and again can shrink the pile.