How to Sterilize Towels

Towels can be sterilized in your household microwave.

Sterilized towels might be needed for any number of reasons, as washing in hot water does not always ensure that the cloth is germ-free. Perhaps the towels were used to clean up after a backed-up toilet and you need to sterilize them after washing as a preventative measure, or you might need the towels to clean a wound. Either way, a fast, easy and certain way to sterilize a towel is to irradiate and steam it in the microwave.

Things You'll Need

• Wrapping film
• Microwave

Instructions

1. Put the towel under the faucet briefly, and then rub the fabric together to spread the water around until the towel is damp.

2. Wrap the towel in wrapping film of the type used in packing or to seal food containers. Place the towel inside the microwave.

3. Set the microwave on high for at least 1 minute. For a large towel, set the time for at least 2 or 3 minutes. Activate the microwave.

4. Remove the towel. If the towel is not steaming, you should wrap the towel more carefully to ensure a better seal and put it back in the microwave for another round. Otherwise, the towel has been sterilized by a combination of heat and irradiation.

Tips & Warnings

• Take care when removing the towel from the plastic wrap to avoid burns from the steam.

References

• "Warming and Sterilizing Towels by Microwave Irradiation"; Yonago Acta Medica (Tottori University, Japan); Yoshinori Tanaka, Shoko Fujiwara, Daisuke Kataoka, Tomonobu Takagaki, Shuichi Takano, Shoko Honda, Michiko Katayose, Yusuke Kinosita and Yuko Toyoshima; 1998

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish