6 Surprising Things You Can Do With Old Dish Towels

Reduce, reuse, recycle. It’s an age-old adage but how often do you find yourself actually putting it into practice? It can sometimes feel easier just to trash things like old socks or dingy bed sheets, but making the small effort to find another use for them can make a big difference, allowing you to save money and help the environment in the process.   

Another humble household essential ripe for reuse? Dish towels. They may have already served their role in the kitchen, but before you toss them, consider all the ways they can be repurposed. Below, we’re rounding up six practical, easy, and even surprising ways to repurpose your old dish towels. With a bit of creativity, you can extend their life—and usefulness—for months to come. 

Donate Them to an Animal Shelter

One of the best ways to repurpose your old dish towels (and ensure they get put to good use) is by donating them to a local animal shelter. Charged with caring for all sorts of creatures, animal shelters rely on donated items (mainly sheets, towels, and blankets) to provide bedding and supplies for their furry friends, allowing them to bathe, care for, and rehabilitate dogs, cats, and more.

Dish towels can be used to clean the cages of animals, help with grooming, and even provide comfort to animals just beginning their journey in the shelter. To find a shelter accepting donations near you, connect with your local ASPCA.

Turn Them Into Wall Art

Just because a dish towel is past its prime doesn’t mean it’s void of beauty! For especially lovely or sentimental dish towels, like the block print textile you picked up on your recent trip to Europe, consider framing them for a unique piece of artwork.

Companies like Framebridge allow you to mail in all sorts of items—dish towels included—for custom framing, so you can easily spotlight the sentimental tea towel your grandmother used to have in her kitchen without trashing it completely. 

Use Them as a Cleaning Rag

If you go through boatloads of paper towels a month, this solution is for you. By repurposing dish towels as cleaning rags, you’ll save on paper goods and score a durable, absorbent textile that will help you make quick work of any messes around your home. Instead of keeping your dish towels in their oversized state, consider cutting them into fours for easier handling during dusting, scrubbing, or any other weekly cleaning tasks. 

Sew Them Into a Tote Bag

Consider recycling a few of your old dish towels into a stretchy, durable cotton tote bag. The best part? You don’t even need to be that crafty. If you’re not into sewing around the perimeter of the pair on a machine, you can buy an iron-on tape like Heat-n-Bond to turn two past-their-prime rectangles into a bag ideal for packing up groceries or heading to the playground. 

Hang Them as Cafe Curtains

Petite Parisian-style cafe curtains are all the rage lately, especially in bathrooms and kitchens where you want a bit of privacy but still want to let the light in. And here’s the good news: dish towels happen to be almost the perfect length of fabric for DIY cafe curtains.

To transform a dish towel into a curtain, simply look for a rod and clips that can easily attach to your towel, no sewing required. One quick note: This makeover is probably best reserved for new towels or ones that you don’t usually find yourself reaching for in the kitchen drawer. 

Recycle Them at a Textile Facility

If you’re truly convinced that there is no life left in your dowdy dish towels, consider this your permission to get rid of them. But wait—before you head to the trash can to toss them, do a bit of research into textile recovery facilities in your area. Many of them allow you to drop off used items like towels, clothes, and even shoes to be properly recycled and given new life down the road as garments or household goods.