Reusable toilet paper: Why one germ expert draws the line at bathroom cloths

Josh Hafner, USA TODAY


https://i.imgur.com/ZmeqsiX.jpg

It's like cloth diapers. But in strips. For adults.

If the buzz about reusable toilet paper, also known as "family cloth," hasn't splattered (sorry) across your Facebook feed, it's just what it sounds like: Clothes used in lieu of TP on the loo, then kept in a hamper or bag after use.

Then they get laundered and reused again, an eco- and cost-friendly alternative to the disposable standard. And while the practice has gained attention on blogs for years — it's a whole cottage industry on Etsy — it may not be a sanitary option for buffing your bum, or even the most earth friendly.

That's according to Kelly Reynolds, a director and public health researcher at the University of Arizona who studies contaminants in the home. It all depends on how cloth wipers do their laundry, Reynolds said, and odds are they're doing it wrong.

"This is just a risky practice, overall, I think and the potential for cross contamination is just very high from your bathroom, where they’re stored, to your laundry room," she said.

Some cloth wipe proponents only use them after urinating, while others use them for No. 2, too. One anonymous wiper told Buzzfeed she leaves used cloths in a bathroom hamper for a day before laundering, while blogger Beth Ricci leaves hers soiled in a sealed bag for up to two days.

It's not the hampers that present the problem, according to Reynolds, but the handling thereafter: Everything a used wipe touches can get contaminated. While feces carries a ton of pathogens that can result in illness, Reynolds said, so does urine.

“When you wash these clothes you transfer these germs to the entire load of laundry, even subsequent loads if you’re not using a protocol," she said.

By "protocol," Reynolds means a strict laundry procedure to both disinfect and sanitize. The Centers for Disease Control has one, she said, which requires bleach and water heated at a temperature hotter than most home launderers use.

Without a sure protocol involving bleach, pathogens can survive the wash cycle, infecting your hands as you move "clean" clothes from your washer to dryer (it's the hot temps of a dryer that can kill the bacteria, she said).

Without bleach, "Your hands will be covered with E.coli," Reynolds said. "E.coli is inherent in our laundry.”

From there, you need only unknowingly touch a faucet, a computer or a bowl of fruit for nasty bacteria to spread.

What's more, Reynolds said, actually using the proper protocol to sanitize cloth toilet wipes — or cloth diapers, for that matter — may require enough water and energy to offset the sustainability benefits versus toilet paper. And toilet paper does break down sustainably, she added.

"It’s the one thing I wouldn’t worry about in terms of biodegradable materials," Reynolds said. "There’s so much moisture and bacteria in septic tanks that all this stuff gets chewed up and utilized by bacteria as a food source."