Do you save unused tissue?
I hate wasting things. Whenever we go to a restaurant, coffee shop or any food establishment, we always end up with unused tissue. It just galls me that the busboys just throw out the clean, unused tissue along with the dirty ones.
We already have too much trash and we’re throwing away perfectly good, clean, tissue.
I know it’s their policy to throw them away because they can’t be sure if the tissue is still clean or already dirty, but seeing the waste just makes me feel bad about it. I’m sure it’s not an environment-friendly thing to do, either. And I feel bad for the poor tree who died just so it can be made into tissue, and have its death end up being meaningless (Drama! 
)
So I take our unused tissues and put them in my pocket, my bag, in the car, at home. They get used whenever I need tissue:
- to wipe away sweat and dirt – in this hot summer, sweat develops instantly even while putting on makeup!
- to clean/wipe things at home – sometimes I just got home and see a dusty shelf, a dusty picture frame or a wet spot on the table, the tissues are handy for a quick cleaning
- to clean spills and wipe things in the kitchen – we save a little on kitchen towels (the expensive interfolded tissue) because we use them up less quickly
- to wipe the car dashboard and other dusty parts – we only wash our cars when they are dirty, and that’s not too often; we don’t eat in the car and we don’t leave things in the car except for the basics, so we go a long time between washings; in between washings, the dashboard can get dusty, so it’s tissue to the rescue!
Basic things we have in the car: umbrellas (we do seem to get a lot of freebie umbrellas), phone chargers, tissues, alcohol, water for cleaning (I refill one of my old, small spritzers with water; sometimes you just need a bit of water to clean things!)
We even have a plastic container at home where we put all the unused tissue in case we end up with a lot.
Anyway, I just feel better knowing that the tissues were used and not just thrown away. Do you think that’s weird? It doesn’t take a lot of effort to do, and I feel like it helps us save a little bit, even if it’s just a small, negligible amount. The thing for me is that I feel like I did not waste something.
How many of you feel the same way?
5 responses to “Don’t Waste Unused Tissues! Save Them!”
Glad to see someone who can relate to me! I feel exactly the same way! I ALWAYS bring unused tissue with me. I really hope a lot of people follow suit! I really hate when things get wasted 🙁
It’s good to hear from you about this “best practice”. My office mates, friends, relatives and a lot of people in our place do it also. Let’s save the trees!
Thanks for you comments, Gia & Mody! I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one!
thank you for this post! why is it so difficult for people to realize the fact that trees are suffering for their mindless consumption of tissue paper? why not re-use clothes or handkerchiefs. i think, people just became too lazy to wash or do their laundry.
ps: i air-dry used kitchen towels, heheh.
Exactly! Even if we can, we shouldn’t treat things as “disposable”. Sure, sometimes it can’t be helped, but let’s try not to have a “disposable” mindset as much as we can 🙂