Kleenex Hand Towels - What Are They Thinking?

I'm guessing that must be one of the advertisements placed within the content. That is ironic. We'll see if we can filter those out.

You have seen fewer sick kids lately? Based on what? The kids you see out and about in shopping centers? I'm a school teacher and I can tell you that I have not seen a significant reduction in the number of sick students, nor the severity of their illnesses, despite all of the "extra disinfecting stuff" being shoved out into the market. Or, you could go to a walk-in clinic on any weekday and see for yourself that people are not getting sick "less and less".

In fact, as another post mentions, allergies amongst children have been on the rise, especially in bacteria-obsessed North America. These companies prey on individual and parental FEAR, and the people who most often fall for it are either lazy or really have no idea about "cleanliness" but are made to believe that they do and that they are in fact obligated to make their home "bacteria-free".

Just as public washrooms are more often replacing paper towels with high-efficiency hand dryers, Kleenex brings out these ridiculous hand towels to place in our very own homes. They do nothing to protect us from harmful bacteria but they DO add yet another item to our landfills and water reserves.

You have seen less sick children lately? What are you basing this on? By observing children in shopping centers?? I'm a teacher and I can tell you that I haven't seen much of a reduction in sick kids in the classroom, despite the presence of all that "extra disinfecting stuff". As the other reply to this message says, allergies are actually becoming more prevalent among our children as all these products continue to pop out on the market.

Companies like Kleenex prey on parental and individual FEAR... and the people who fall for it are either lazy or really know nothing about "cleanliness", but are made to believe that they do. These ridiculous Kleenex home towels do nothing to protect people from harmful bacteria and only add yet another product to our landfills and water reserves.

Just as public washrooms start to make an effort to replace paper towels with touchless dryers, this company makes the public believe they are being cleaner and therefore stay healthier by using and tossing.

You'll notice that the posting time of all the "pro Kleenex hand towel" comments on this page are within minutes of each other. Hmmmm - maybe the same person hired from Kleenex to do some damage control?

Anyways, look - your argument makes no sense. First of all, as many have pointed out this article is about the environmentally unfriendly nature of Kleenex hand towels. If the environment goes down the toilet, we have bigger problems to worry about than getting a cold from a hand towel.

But the real irony? You use a hand towel AFTER you wash your hands, so it's probably the most germ free thing in your entire house. Our family has healthy kids that have been using cloth hand towels for years. They play outside in the mud, eat their fruits and vegetables, and don't freak out over every little germ they run into.

In fact, the problem with this "disinfectant world" that we live in is that it's killing the good germs as well. Ever notice how allergies for school children are on the rise? Kids immune systems are becoming weaker than ever because we are killing the good bacteria. Nature created a balance that has worked for thousands of years. Otherwise we wouldn't be here today.

Unfortunately for us, companies like Kleenex are doing their darndest to undo that balance, just for a quick buck. Very, very sad to see a large corporation negate the hard work of so many well intentioned individuals.

Well said treehugger. Sad to see Kleenex resort to fear monger marketing tactics...

To the poster above - you've got to be joking right? How much does Kleenex pay you to post on here? This article is about the environment. Bottom line - Kleenex hand towels are hurting the environment, which in turn damages our health far greater than a few germs on hand towels.

In addition, aren't hand towels for drying your hands after you wash them? So your hand towels are probably the least germ containing thing in your house!

The Kleenex hand towel product is the most ridiculous, environmentally unfriendly thing to arrive on the market this year.

Fear is a powerful marketing tool, but that doesn't mean it's right for the Earth.

In this case, I don't think it matters if they are compostable. The issue, to me, is that this is misuse of resources. Even if they happen to use recycled paper to make these paper towels, this is not an essential use of resources. And if they end up being used once and thrown in the compost, that is definitely not the best use of the tree that was killed to make the towels. This isn't just a waste management issue.

As for the carbon footprint question, imagine using paper towels in the bathroom while still washing your laundry, including bath towels, wash clothes, and bath mats. It's a double whammy for the environment. You're still going to have essentially the same carbon footprint in terms of doing laundry, but also be contributing to unnecessarily cutting down trees that mitigate the carbon problem and/or using up valuable recycled resources that could be used to produce more necessary products.