Eco-friendly shelf paper

It's a little embarrassing to write that headline. I mean, it's shelf paper, people. Woo hoo! What a weird product category. Well, it's been on my mind lately -- I've been peeling off 50-year old shelf liners from my kitchen cabinets. (The more disturbing question: how have I lived with this nasty stuff for so long?) We're just about finished with our kitchen recession remodel, and I feel the need to make the inside of our cabinets as attractive as the rest of the space.

It's just killed me to do this, however. Our cabinets are original to our 1958 house and still in great condition (which is one reason we didn't replace them in the remodel). And as I've removed the crumbling shelf liners, I've discovered pristine wood beneath it, with the exception of the impossible-to-remove adhesive. So, let me get this straight: you put down shelf paper to protect the wood that you'll never see, ultimately ruining it with adhesive? Sigh. I scraped and sanded some of the shelves where we store food, and I love the look of the natural wood. I do see value in putting down a liner where dishes are stored, particularly if you're like me and tend to put still-wet dishes into the cupboards (lazy). And it's probably good for protecting stemware, too.

Purchasing a roll of plastic, adhesive-backed paper is not appealing. In fact, purchasing anything is not appealing. Luckily I didn't have to for some of my shelves. We had some Marmoleum left over from the new floor, so I cut it down for our pantry. Marmoleum is a super eco-friendly flooring made from linseed oil, so I feel OK about it on my shelves. It's also really easy to cut with a utility knife (you score the backing and just snap it apart), so this was a quick project. These small sheets of Marmoleum wanted to buckle a little, so after I placed them on the shelves I weighted them down with some books overnight and that did the trick.

I don't have enough to do all of my shelves and drawers, so I'm considering alternatives. Flooring stores often sell remnant rolls of Marmoleum, but I'm betting the rolls are still pretty big -- and probably kind of pricey for shelf liner. I've been eyeing the Williams-Sonoma cork liner. Cork is also an eco-friendly product -- but it's produced far away in Portugal, and it seems kind of pricey, too ($20 for a 12-foot roll). I've read that some people use wallpaper remnants (which I know you can find locally at SCRAP). But most wallpaper is vinyl, isn't it? Eh.

This is not a major concern in the grand scheme of things. I'm kind of curious about your attitude toward shelf paper. Another product we don't really need? Do you use it? Any clever re-use or eco-friendly ideas to share?