A paper towel is an absorbent, disposable towel made from paper.[1] In Britain, paper towels for kitchen use are also known as kitchen rolls, kitchen paper, or kitchen towels.[2] For home use, paper towels are usually sold in a roll of perforated sheets, but some are sold in stacks of pre-cut and pre-folded layers for use in paper-towel dispensers. Unlike cloth towels, paper towels are disposable and intended to be used only once. Paper towels absorb water because they are loosely woven, which enables water to travel between the fibers, even against gravity (capillary effect). They have similar purposes to conventional towels, such as drying hands, wiping windows and other surfaces, dusting, and cleaning up spills. Paper towel dispensers are commonly used in toilet facilities shared by many people, as they are often considered more hygienic than hot-air hand dryers[3] or shared cloth towels.
History
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Early paper towelsIn 1907, the Philadelphia-based Scott Paper Company developed the first restroom tissues.[4] They started the paper towel industry when they began selling Sani-Towels and used advertising to convince the public that paper towels were essential for personal hygiene.[5]
In 1919, William E. Corbin, Henry Chase, and Harold Titus began experimenting with paper towels in the Research and Development building of the Brown Company in Berlin, New Hampshire.[6] By 1922, Corbin perfected their product and began mass-producing it at the Cascade Mill on the Berlin/Gorham line.[7] This product was called Nibroc Paper Towels (Corbin spelled backwards[8]). In 1931, the Scott Paper Company introduced their paper towel rolls for kitchens.
Paper towels are commonly used for drying hands in public bathrooms. In the 21st century, however, electric jet-air dryers have threatened their dominance. While there is no clear scientific consensus over which method is more hygienic, the paper towel industry and hand dryer manufacturers such as Dyson have each attempted to discredit each other by funding studies which spur sensationalist headlines and running advertisements. The public relations battle has also been fueled by animosity between both sides.[9][10]
Production
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Paper towels are made from either virgin or recycled paper pulp,[11] which is extracted from wood or fiber crops. They are sometimes bleached during the production process to lighten coloration,[12] and may also be decorated with colored images on each square (such as flowers or teddy bears). Resin size is used to improve the wet strength.[12] Paper towels are packed individually and sold as stacks, or are held on a continuous roll, and come in two distinct classes: domestic and institutional.[13] Many companies produce paper towels. Some common brand names are Bounty, Seventh Generation, Scott, Viva, and Kirkland brand among many others.
Market
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Tissue products in North America, including paper towels, are divided into consumer and commercial markets, with household consumer usage accounting for approximately two thirds of total North American consumption.[13] Commercial usage, or otherwise any use outside of the household, accounts for the remaining third of North American consumption.[13] The growth in commercial use of paper towels can be attributed to the migration from folded towels (in public bathrooms, for example) to roll towel dispensers, which reduces the amount of paper towels used by each patron.[13]
Within the forest products industry, paper towels are a major part of the "tissue market", second only to toilet paper.[13]
Globally, Americans are the highest per capita users of paper towels in the home,[14] at approximately 24 kilograms (53 lb) yearly consumption per capita (combined consumption approximately 7.8 million tonnes (7,700,000 long tons; 8,600,000 short tons) per year). This is 50% higher than in Europe and nearly 500% higher than in Latin America.[13] By contrast, people in the Middle East tend to prefer reusable cloth towels, and people in Europe tend to prefer reusable cleaning sponges.[14]
Paper towels are popular primarily among people who have disposable income, so their use is higher in wealthy countries and low in developing countries.[14]
Growing hygiene consciousness during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a boost in paper towel market growth.[citation needed]
Environmental issues
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Paper towels are a global product with rising production and consumption.[15] Being second in tissue consumption only to toilet paper (36% vs. 45% in the U.S.), the proliferation of paper towels, which are mostly non-recyclable, has globally adverse effects on the environment.[16] However, paper towels made from recycled paper do exist, and are sold at many outlets. Some are manufactured from bamboo, which grows faster than trees.
Electric hand dryers are an alternative to using paper towels for hand drying.[17] However, paper towels are quicker than hand dryers: after ten seconds, paper towels achieve 90% dryness,[clarification needed] while hot air dryers require 40 seconds to achieve a similar dryness.[18] Electric hand dryers may also spread bacteria to hands and clothing.[19][20][21]
See also
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References
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Millions of people across the UK have fond memories of being told to put a wet paper towel on a whole host of cuts and scrapes in their childhood – but just how did kitchen roll become the household staple it is today?
Keep reading to find out the answers to all your paper towel questions.
It’s hard to think there was a time before paper towels were invented – surely they’ve been around since paper, right? Well, not exactly. Although people have been making paper since as far back as AD 105, it took humanity a long time to have the idea of making it absorbent to mop up spills.
In fact, the first man to do this – a man named Arthur Scott who owned a toilet roll company in Pennsylvania – only did so by accident! It’s said the idea came to him after a batch of toilet paper came out of the factory far too thick to be used for that purpose.
Instead of wasting the material, Scott came up with a use for it! By perforating the paper into sheets, he could sell them as paper towels – perfect for drying hands or mopping up spills. And so, the kitchen towel was invented.
Of course, the concept behind kitchen roll has existed for thousands of years. People have been mopping up spillages with rags and cloths since… well, since we first started spilling things. It used to be clumps of moss and animal pelt – which isn’t exactly the most hygienic for your kitchen counter. Then it was cloths and rags – and of course some people still use these today.
But it wasn’t until the early twentieth century that paper towels came onto the market – Arthur Scott began selling his paper towels to be used in the kitchen in 1931. Back then, they were closer to the size of hand towels – and designed to do much the same job.
Paper towels – as the name suggests – are made entirely of paper, loosely woven to create an absorbent material. The towels themselves don’t usually contain plastic, but the packaging often does. Sometimes, kitchen rolls might even be double-wrapped in multipacks – plastic wrapped around each individual roll as well as around the whole pack.
At Oceans, we wrap our kitchen rolls in fully recyclable paper packaging so you can be sure there’s no plastic in your order. Both roll and wrap are sustainably made in the UK.
Kitchens are the hub of food and drink in our homes, so you may be wondering if kitchen towels are really the most hygienic option – and that’s the beauty of disposable paper towels. Whether you’re using them to clean up a spillage or just to wipe down your surfaces, you can rest assured that they’re not carrying germs from the last thing you cleaned. In fact, in an independent laboratory test, Oceans plastic-free kitchen roll has been proven to remove 99.9% of bacteria*.
Because of this, kitchen rolls are much more hygienic than some other options out there – imagine how much bacteria a reusable cloth might be carrying after a few days’ use! The added bonus is that once you use a paper towel, it goes in the bin, so there’s no lingering smell or bacteria spreading around your kitchen.
They’re also more hygienic than cloth towels or air dryers in public or shared bathrooms. This is because each person uses a separate paper towel, so there’s no transfer of bacteria. Paper towels don’t propel germs through the air like hand dryers do.
Although kitchen roll is made of tissue, like toilet roll, the type of paper and the process used to make it means that it’s thicker and much more absorbent. This means it can’t go down the toilet – if it does, it might swell up and block your pipes. Always put your kitchen towels in the bin after use to make sure they don’t end up anywhere they shouldn’t. Even better, recycle clean kitchen towels in your domestic recycling.
And so, we’ve come to the end of our whistle stop tour of everything you could possibly want to know about kitchen rolls. Next time you’re at a party and someone spills their drink, you’ll have just the thing to break the ice – metaphorically, of course!
*In an independent laboratory test Oceans kitchen roll was examined in a study and through its normal use demonstrated the ability to remove >99.99% of S. aureus, E. coli and P. aeruginosa bacteria from a stainless-steel surface.