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Which paper towel brand is the best to clean up your mess?

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — You've got a mess. You want to clean it up. But which paper towel do you use?

Consumer Reports is putting six popular paper towel brands through a series of tests. They wanted to see which was best at pick-up, strength, and absorbency.

Sometimes a paper towel really is the only tool for the job

“Paper towels -- they’re not always the best option for the environment, but there are just some messes like kids' messes and pet messes that you don’t want to have to wash out of a reusable paper towel,” said Consumer Reports' Jodhaira Rodriguez.

For quickly cleaning up spills, you want a single sheet to hold as much liquid as possible so testers calculated the absorbency of each paper towel.

Consumer Reports also measured strength by slowly adding weighted test pellets into a cup held up by just a single wet paper towel– until the paper towel gave out. The more it can hold and for longer, the stronger it is.

“We also checked to see how fast each sheet ripped from its roll and whether or not a paper towel could be reused. And we evaluated the price -- both per roll and
per sheet,” Rodriguez said.

The winner? A name synonymous with paper towels for almost 60 years -- Bounty. “The quicker picker upper,” had the highest overall score but it comes at a price. Bounty was the most expensive brand tested. Consumer Reports says Brawny could be a good alternative if you’re trying to save a few dollars and don’t want to lose out on performance.