Recycled vs Virgin Paper Towels | Which Is Better? NZ
Recycled vs Virgin Paper Towels: Which Is Better for Your Workplace?
When choosing paper hand towels for a commercial washroom, it's easy to focus on price, sheet size and how many towels are in the carton.
But another question is becoming increasingly important for New Zealand businesses:
Should you choose recycled or virgin paper towels?
Both can provide effective hand drying, but they're made from different sources and can suit different priorities.
For businesses looking to reduce their reliance on virgin fibre and make more sustainable purchasing decisions, recycled paper towels can offer a practical alternative.
So, what's the difference, and which is right for your workplace?
What Are Recycled Paper Towels?
Recycled paper towels are manufactured using paper fibre that has already been used and recovered rather than relying entirely on new, or virgin, fibre.
The recycled material is processed and converted into fibre that can be used to manufacture new paper products.
For commercial workplaces that use large quantities of disposable paper products, choosing recycled paper towels can help incorporate recycled materials into everyday purchasing.
Hygiene Direct's HD Best Compostable Slimfold Paper Towels, for example, are manufactured from recycled kraft paper.
What Are Virgin Paper Towels?
Virgin paper towels are manufactured from new wood-derived pulp rather than recycled paper fibre.
Virgin fibre can be used to produce very soft, strong and absorbent paper products, which is why it is widely used across commercial and consumer paper manufacturing.
That doesn't automatically make virgin paper "bad" or recycled paper "good".
The environmental performance of a paper product can depend on a much wider range of factors, including:
- Where the fibre comes from
- Manufacturing processes
- Packaging
- Transportation
- How efficiently the towel is dispensed
- How many towels people use
- What happens to the towel after use
The better approach is therefore to consider the complete paper towel system, rather than judging a product on a single characteristic.
Why Choose Recycled Paper Towels?
One of the clearest reasons to choose recycled paper towels is that they make use of existing paper fibre.
Instead of relying entirely on newly produced virgin fibre, recycled products give recovered paper material another useful application.
For organisations working towards more sustainable procurement practices, this can make recycled paper towels particularly attractive.
They're relevant for businesses looking to:
- Increase their use of recycled products
- Reduce reliance on virgin materials
- Improve sustainable procurement
- Reduce unnecessary plastic packaging
- Review the environmental impact of everyday consumables
- Demonstrate practical sustainability initiatives
Because paper towels are consumed continuously, changing the type of towel purchased can have an ongoing impact rather than being a one-off sustainability initiative.
Are Recycled Paper Towels Lower Quality?
Not necessarily.
The assumption that recycled automatically means poor quality is outdated.
The important question for a commercial washroom is whether the towel performs effectively for its intended purpose.
A commercial paper towel needs to provide practical hand drying while working correctly through the chosen dispenser.
There can be differences in softness, strength, thickness and absorbency between individual paper products, regardless of whether they're made from recycled or virgin fibre.
That's why businesses should evaluate the actual product, rather than assuming quality solely from the type of fibre used.
What About Bamboo Paper Towels?
Recycled and virgin wood fibre aren't the only options available.
Bamboo paper towels provide another alternative.
Hygiene Direct's Bamboo Paper range uses a 60% bamboo and 40% wood fibre blend, providing businesses with another choice when reviewing the paper products used throughout their workplace.
Rather than there being one universally "best" paper towel, businesses can choose between different fibre types depending on their priorities around performance, sustainability, price and washroom requirements.
This is why Hygiene Direct offers several paper towel options rather than taking a one-product-fits-all approach.
What Does Compostable Add to the Equation?
The HD Best Compostable Slimfold Paper Towel combines recycled kraft paper with another useful characteristic: it is designed as a compostable paper towel.
This potentially gives businesses an alternative end-of-life pathway for used paper towels where a suitable composting programme is available.
However, the word compostable doesn't mean a towel will automatically be composted.
If the used towel goes into general rubbish, it will normally follow that waste stream.
Businesses wanting to compost their used paper towels should therefore check with their waste or composting provider to establish whether they accept them and how they need to be collected.
We'll explore this further in Can Used Paper Towels Be Composted?
Packaging Matters Too
The environmental conversation shouldn't stop with the paper inside the carton.
Packaging is also worth considering.
A business may consume dozens or hundreds of cartons of washroom paper products during a year. If every carton contains unnecessary plastic packaging, that creates another waste stream.
The HD Best Compostable Slimfold Paper Towels are plastic packaging free, including the use of paper tape on the outer carton.
This gives businesses an opportunity to combine:
recycled paper + compostability + plastic-free packaging
in a single everyday washroom product.
We'll look more closely at packaging in Plastic-Free Paper Towels: How to Reduce Washroom Packaging Waste.
What About Paper Towel Consumption?
The material used to manufacture a paper towel is only part of the sustainability equation.
How many towels people use matters too.
If users regularly pull out three or four towels when one or two would have been sufficient, unnecessary paper is being consumed regardless of whether that paper is recycled or virgin fibre.
The dispenser can therefore play an important role.
A suitable commercial dispenser can help present towels in a controlled manner and reduce the tendency for users to grab unnecessarily large handfuls.
For a busy workplace, even a relatively small reduction in the number of towels used per hand dry can become significant over a year.
Recycled vs Virgin Paper Towels: Which Should You Choose?
There's no single answer that's right for every business.
Consider the priorities of your workplace.
If you're primarily looking for a particular level of softness, absorbency or presentation, compare the performance of the individual products available.
If reducing reliance on virgin fibre is a priority, recycled paper towels are worth considering.
If reducing plastic packaging is important, look at how the towels and cartons are packaged.
If you're considering composting, check whether the towel and your local waste system are compatible.
And always consider consumption.
A sustainable paper towel that is routinely overused may not deliver the outcome you were hoping for.
A More Sustainable Commercial Washroom
For many businesses, the best results come from considering the entire washroom rather than changing one product in isolation.
That can include:
- Recycled paper products
- Alternative-fibre products such as bamboo
- Plastic-free packaging
- Recycled plastic dispensers
- Controlled paper dispensing
- Refillable soap systems
- Composting where appropriate
- Waste separation
- Reducing unnecessary consumption
We'll explore these options further in How to Make Your Commercial Washroom More Sustainable.
HD Best Compostable Slimfold Paper Towels
For New Zealand businesses looking for a recycled commercial paper towel option, Hygiene Direct supplies HD Best Compostable Slimfold Paper Towels.
Features include:
- Made from recycled kraft paper
- Compostable
- Plastic-free packaging
- Paper tape used on the outer carton
- 1-ply construction
- Slimfold format
- 200 sheets per pack
- 20 packs per carton
- 4,000 sheets per carton
- Suitable for commercial and workplace washrooms
Shop HD Best Compostable Slimfold Paper Towels
If you're reviewing the paper products used throughout your workplace, contact Hygiene Direct and we can help you compare the options available and find the right balance between performance, cost and sustainability.
Related Articles
- What Are Compostable Paper Towels? A Guide for NZ Businesses
- Can Used Paper Towels Be Composted?
- How to Make Your Commercial Washroom More Sustainable
- Plastic-Free Paper Towels: How to Reduce Washroom Packaging Waste