YONKERS, NY — ‘Tis the season of holiday entertaining. Messes are bound to happen.  But consumers don’t need to fret about cleaning up. And they don’t have to pay a lot for strong and absorbent paper towels, according to the latest tests in the December issue of Consumer Reports, on newsstands November 3 and available online at www.ConsumerReports.org.

Though Bounty Extra Soft ($4.15 per 100 sq. ft.) topped the Ratings, store brands from Walgreens ($2.50 per 100 sq. ft) and CVS ($2.90 per 100 sq. ft.) cost roughly one-third less than the price of Bounty, and scored very good in Consumer Reports’ tests of 21 paper towel products. Very good and even less expensive than the drugstore offerings are the Kirkland Signature (Costco, $1.48 per 100 sq. ft.) paper towels sold in the East (those sold in the West did slightly worse) and Up & Up (Target, $1.77 per 100 sq. ft.).

The testing process

Paper towels come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are embossed on one or both sides, perforated to create half-sheets, or “green”—made of 100 percent recycled paper with some post-consumer content. Most are two-ply.

There are also differences in number of sheets, sizes of sheets, and numbers of rolls per package so it’s difficult to compare costs. Consumer Reports leveled the playing field by calculating cost per 100 square feet.

To measure absorbency, Consumer Reports saturated a sheet of each paper towel in water and determined the weight of the water it held per square foot. Testers measured scrubbing strength by wrapping a wet sheet around a sponge. Then testers had a machine move the covered sponge back and forth over ceramic tiles and counted the number of scrubs before the sheet tore. For wet strength, technicians measured how much lead a wet sheet could hold before it tore apart.

Testing results

After rigorous tests, Brawny proved the most absorbent of all. One square foot held more than 2½ fluid ounces of water on average, compared with about one-half fluid ounce for the least absorbent products. Other findings include:

• The toughest sheets survived more than 175 scrubs over tiles on average, compared with 15 scrubs for the worst.
• White Cloud Green Earth is the best among products made from recycled paper and scored very good while most others with recycled content scored fair.
• Ply-count doesn’t seem to matter. When Consumer Reports tested toilet paper, testers found that more plies usually mean better performance, but Viva Kleenex, which scored high, has just one ply.
• Some rolls squish easily while others are firmer. Consumers should check sheet numbers and dimensions before they make a purchase.

Some paper towels can cost three times as much as others and may not get the job done. For the complete ratings on paper towels, check out the December issue of Consumer Reports, on newsstands on November 3 and online at www.ConsumerReports.org.