Customer Reviews

Seventh Generation Paper Towels, Natural, 2-Ply Sheets (Pack of 30)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Quite decent paper towels -- not much to say about it. Their absorbency is a little bit less than nonrecycled ones, but not bad, and no further trees had to be cut down for it.

What the product description should say but doesn't: these are 120-sheet rolls. Each sheet is 11x9".

Something I didn't entirely realize before I ordered a box -- thirty rolls is a lot of paper towels. Like, oh, twenty pounds of the stuff. So you're going to have these on hand for a while. You'll have to bring them along when you move, and they'll watch the children whose playpens you cleaned up with the first of them leave for college after wiping their car's dipstick with the last. It's something of a committment, really.

Updated July 21, 2010 (thanks to Sam Evans for pointing out the changes in sheets per roll)

You might be comparing these brown paper towels with the 30 rolls of Seventh Generation, white paper towels also sold on Amazon wondering which is cheaper.
Note that these brown ones are 120 sheets per roll. The white ones are 70 sheets per roll.

White paper towels
$42.01/(30*112) = 1.3 cents per sheet.

Brown paper towels
$58.11/(30*120) = 1.6 cents per sheet.

So the white ones are now cheaper, however some have mentioned that the sheets are smaller in the white roll. I'll leave it to someone else to do the cost per square foot calculation.

I tried both the bleached white and the brown natural versions of these towels and I BY FAR prefer the white; not because of the color, but because you get more for your money.
The white towels are not as soft feeling as your grocery store preferred brands. They actually feel rather rough; but they are quite strong and lint free. Both versions are the same size towel, about 1/3rd smaller than your standard papertowel. The brown version feels much thinner and is not nearly as strong. I can't even dry my hands with one towel, they rip to pieces. On both, the perforations are not cut very well and it's nearly impossible to tear off a single sheet, especially the white. I can use the white towel and hang it on my kitchen faucet to dry and use it again; not so with the brown version. The brown towels are in pieces after drying one coffee cup.
I wish they would tear off the roll easier but I'd buy the white towel again, but I wouldn't buy the brown natural towel.

It may take 2 sheets to blot up as much liquid as Bounty, but it takes zero trees. It creates a market for waste paper which otherwise would be thrown in the garbage. It also saves a ton of water and creates no dioxins like chlorine bleached paper towels do. And dioxins are among the deadliest poisons on the planet. If you care about your children this stuff is a no-brainer. Everytime you purchase it, we all win.

These are good paper towels, good absorbency and stand up relatively well when wet.

My husband and I love these-- one box lasts a couple of months; we use them for cleaning, napkins, whatever. I actually love the look of these. I first bought them years ago because I thought it was great that they were not bleached (dioxins and all that), but I really like the color-- it looks different, and we're not ones for teddy bears on paper towels anyway.

This is a great product. We have been using these for about 8 years. Amazon used to have the cheapest price, but the rates have gone up a bit. Make sure that you get the free shipping or you can get them cheaper offline.

Have had no trouble at all ripping sheets along the perforations (as others have pointed out). I have noticed that they do not absorb quite as much as some other super-duty brands, but I really only use them to Windex my counters, and -- on the bright side -- have learned to cut down on the amount of Windex I spray everywhere (in an attempt not to get my hands wet). However, once soaked in Windex, these sheets do not easily tear or fall apart. All in all, in terms of functionality, they're pretty much on par with any non-earthloving brand.

The sheets themselves are a bit smaller than I'm used to (about 2/3 the width of a normal sheet, I'd say), so if you're going to do any obsessive cost-analysis make sure to focus on square footage. Aesthetically, the brown may be a touch off-putting...but what better way to show you care than brown paper towels?? Perhaps next order I'll go with the white, however....which brings me to my next point:
No, you're not paying 50 bucks because these are the world's most expensive paper towels (although they do sell for $2.50/roll at most grocery stores, here it's not even $1.40 with the discounts). You're paying 50 bucks because the go-cart sized box you'll receive has 30 rolls in it...we're talking enough rolls to last an average two-person household a good 1.5 years, at least. Although, if you're buying paper towels from amazon, you're probably already quite used to the Costco (and even greater) sized portions.

If you can get these with free shipping, it is well worth buying in bulk. They use no chlorine to bleach the paper towels, so they are both ecological and family-health friendly. Also, I have noticed that the rolls are bigger and the towels thicker than when I buy them individually at Whole Foods. When they offer free shipping, we stock up!

Because I'm a little bonkers, I did the math on a few of the green paper towel options on Amazon and compared them to Costco's Kirkland brand. I went with these because both the quality and price stack up:

Price:

7th Generation (Natural): .023 per square foot (100% recycled material)

Scott Naturals: .025 per square foot (60% recycled)

Green Forest: .034 per square foot (100% recycled -- Cost/sq ft is approximate.)

Costco/Kirkland: .015 per square foot in the Washington, DC area (Ick. Fluffy and white and sadly killing trees.)

Quality:
You probably won't want to blow your nose in these, but for regular cleaning they hold up just great and so does your conscience.