Good point about dipping down to even 60%
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How do napkin rings enable multiple uses? I concede that when you have finished a meal you give your napkins a unique fold or place all the napkins in some specific order so that you would get the same napkin back at the next meal, or you could even hand the used napkins out for the next meal in random fashion, figuring, “What the heck, we are all clean and healthy.” However, using a napkin ring makes it easier. For the vast majority of meals, the soiling of a napkin is quite minimal, certainly not enough to make me want a fresh one. After all, most days my handkerchief stays clean!
I don’t want my leftover/take-home food leaving my sight. And I don’t want it dumped wilky-nilly into a take-out container → gravy on the broccoli, meat under risotto.
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Each diner has a unique ring so they know which napkin is theirs to re-use?
Unless they are suffering from severe memory loss, I think it would be fairly easy for any diner to put the napkin back in the ring next to their plate where they initially found it 
You don’t clear the table between meals? Always sit in the same seat?
Stupid me, I was thinking Tim’s used, ringed napkins went into a basket or such, to be reunited with their users at a later meal.
I see your point now. My family had silver napkin rings with initials. Come to think of it, I still have mine but never use it - we’re savages and usually use paper towels 
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I have to wash clothing anyway, and a few kitchen towels don’t take up much space. I wash them with all the other towels and use Lysol sanitizer. Paper towels are reserved for greasy messes or handling raw meat/chicken etc.
I’m not a fan of disposable plates and cutlery for regular use–from a kitchen budget standpoint they work out to be far more expensive in the long run than a good set of regular dishes. And I have to wash pots and pans anyway after cooking, so how much more water does this really use? I have a pretty efficient dishwasher as well.
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You’d fit right in here, then.
Yep.
After a meal the table is cleared, and the napkins, in their identifying rings, are stored in a suitable place between meals. When the table is set for the next meal, the napkins are retrieved and placed on the table as it is set. On laundry day all the napkins are laundered and the next setting of the table has a freshly ironed, folded napkin by the fork with the appropriate napkin ring sitting on it. The same drill occurs if something very messy, like ribs or corn on the cob, creates the need for a fresh napkin.
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Said the same thing myself a couple of posts down.
Makes perfect sense, unless someone has ebola or the rings/monograms match.
Yeah, that ebola is really gonna waste a lot of stuff you can’t reuse or recycle.
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Don’t tempt the fates!
We use cloth and reusable dishes for almost everything. We keep paper towels on hand to deal with grease. Over time we’ve become quite adept at minimizing the water usage for cleaning. We use tons of glass and also glass and reusable items everyday in the kids lunches. The only time I use plastic is for field trips. I have glass Wean Green snack contains that are 10+ years old and still go to school everyday.
We live in a duplex and it is really easy to see the impact of disposables on our street. Our neighbor uses disposable ever day for her three kids and constantly throws non recyclable items in the wrong bin. That building’s waste is TRIPLE ours
nB: We used cloth diapers too which kept kids rash free and allowed us to skip most diaper cremes, etc. We always dumped poop in the toilet we also potty trained early and the kids were all out of diaper by two. So I feel that even with water use, that was a huge win for the environment.
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Our system is similar if by carefully put away you mean sloppily leave on chair. Still we are a family of five and have no paper napkins on hand.
When I grew up we used cloth napkins and butter for nice occasions. When I moved out and I was determined to use “the nice” everyday. Even as a college student I used cloth napkins.
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There are a variety of environmentally-friendly disposable and washable items that can be used in a convection oven. Many disposable items are made from recycled paper or other sustainable materials and can easily be used in the oven. Washable items like ceramic dishes are also great alternatives to disposable options and can be used in the oven with ease. Reusable liners are also available that are designed specifically for use inside convection ovens, making them a great choice for those looking to be more eco-friendly.
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Mostly cloth towels in kitchen instead of paper. Washable bamboo chopsticks. I save plastic take-out containers and take them to restaurants for re-use, on trips/ picnics where they are used one more time, then discarded, or saved until we have no power so washing dishes is a problem. (FWIW, we put out our trash bin once every two or three weeks, and it’s never full even then.)
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I choose paper, because I use those bags for fresh tortilla chips and bread. Then they get greasy and I use to start fire in my wood burner.
Why bakeries put fresh bread into plastic bags is beyond me. Use paper, keep the crusty texture.
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