Personal, reusable hand towels

The average person uses between 2,400 and 3,000 paper towels each year just at work, so it’s no real surprise that more than 3,000 tons of paper towel waste are produced every day in the U.S. alone. Hoping to tame that mountain of methane-producing trash, PeopleTowels has developed a very simple solution: personal hand towels that can be reused again and again. The Japanese (amongst others) have been using personal hand towels for decades, and now California-based PeopleTowels hopes to spread the habit worldwide. In November it launched its pocket-sized, quick-drying hand towels made from 100 percent organic Fair Trade cotton. A variety of eco-chic designs in environmentally friendly dyes embellish the towels, which also feature hang tags for easy attachment to a purse or a backpack. Several of those designs, in fact, are the result of a crowdsourced design contest that just concluded, with another one planned for this summer. Pricing on PeopleTowels is USD 8 for a single towel or USD 21 for a 3-towel set; one percent of PeopleTowels’ sales profits go to 1% for The Planet. Branding and private-label options are also available. By switching to its towels for one year, each consumer can save one-quarter of a tree, reduce landfill waste by 23 lbs. and conserve 250 gallons of water, PeopleTowels says. Green-minded companies around the world: hard to imagine a better, more eco-iconic perk or promotional giveaway for your target audience! (Related: Reusable lunch box napkins.)