Environmentally Friendly Kitty Litter Alternatives (Fabric?)

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My partner and I have a cat, Forte, who is generally, a very good cat. His litter box, on the other hand, stinks. Some background - we use a Clever Cat top-entry box. Love it. Will never use another litter box so long as I live. Cuts down on scattered litter and keeps the dogs' noses out. It's a little bit bigger than a standard litter box, but not so huge it's an obstacle. Forte, in general, is great about using his box. We moved just over a year ago, and in the stress of moving, he had a few elimination problems, which went away when he got settled and comfortable in his new environment. He's one of those cats who will not fuss or complain even if we slack on the clean-up of his box, just because it keeps the rest of his environment cleaner to use it. He's an enthusiastic digger, and when we used to have multiple cats, he'd follow up their visits to the litter box to bury their waste more effectively. Traditional kitty litter, though, is a real pill. It's awful for the environment (getting thrown out into landfills and it doesn't decompose well), is dusty (which irritates our lungs as well as our pet rats' lungs), and is messy (no matter how many things we've tried, ultimately, some litter tracks out of the box). Recently, we've hit a rough spot financially, so a lot of the clay alternatives on the market are well beyond our price range. In the past, we've tried a few of them, and been less than pleased with the results. Yesterday's News is probably the biggest offender for us, because while it has the benefit of being recycled, some recyclers (and recycling plants) are less than vigilant at making sure their newspaper is properly sorted. (We found foil in the pellets.) Most recently, we tried using shredded newspaper, which we loved. It needs to be cleaned more often, but it's easy to clean up because it's so absorbent and not at all dusty. Forte didn't mind it either at first. It's so light, though, and one day when he was climbing out of his box, it tipped over and landed on him. Scared him to bits, and after that he refused to use his litter box until we replaced the newspaper with conventional clay litter. But for the reasons I've already listed, we're less than satisfied with this solution. Right now, I'm toying with the idea of buying some old towels or diapers at the Salvation Army or Goodwill (or maybe some fleece?), and tearing them up and tossing those in his box. Has anyone else ever opted to use absorbent fabric in their litter box? Has anyone ever heard of anyone doing so? Or does anyone have any better (inexpensive) ideas?