#1, I don't buy the statistics. I know that statistics can be skewed to mean anything a person wants them to mean. #2, what about the cost of electricity, water, and wear & tear on the washer & dryer to wash those cloth napkins? What about the costs involved in MAKING the cloth napkins? Those numbers are meaningless. That said- I cut down on buying paper towels to almost nothing. I mainly only use them to clean up nasty messes that I know I will want to throw the whole deal away afterward! I cut up all the old clothes & t-shirts I had saved up into 10"x10" squares, cutting them with a zig-zag bladed rotary cutter. I put them in a cloth bag sort of thing, similar to those plastic-bag keepers one sees, that is hung up with my pots & pans. We use those for napkins (and most every other clean-up job,) we're not formal here. The only reason this system works though, is that we have a new LG washer AND dryer, that saves a ton of electricity and water. When I had the old washer & dryer, cloth napkins would not have been possible, because with our well I literally couldn't keep up with the laundry as it was. Sometimes I think that the eco-crowd is pretty judgemental in assuming that one solution works for everyone- and if you don't do THEIR solution, you're planet-destroying scum.