I'm on the bandwagon with the terry shop rags. A single one-foot-square towel can wipe down easily 50 or 60 chains and still works great long, long after it's completely black.

And you can use any lube really, as long as you wipe off the oil that moves to the outside of the links after each of the perhaps first three rides.

You know you have too much oil in the chain when oil flies off and/or when a lot of oil needs to be wiped off after the first couple of rides.
That's where a solvent-diluted lube helps with leaving only the necessary minimum of lube within the links after the initial wiping down and after allowing the solvent to dry overnight. The solvent of course also makes for a good cleaning effect at each lubing session, and allows one to apply the lube in a continuous stream to the moving chain, which is a huge time-saver.
You can get this lube-and-wipe routine down to two minutes or so, done every few hundred miles or after each wet ride. The diluted lube immediately displaces water so should be done right after riding in wet conditions.
The ratio of oil to solvent can be as low as 1:4, or heavier as needed to better hold up to wet conditions.

Environmentally, I'm good with the minimal amount of solvent and oil that gets wasted and/or evaporated upon soaking into the rag. At least no liquid needs to be discarded, and lets not forget conservation of precious time. I use "odorless mineral spirits" for diluting chain lubes of many types, and the resulting mix is also great as a pre-restoration penetrant/lube, and as a lube for cable guides, caliper pivots, freewheels, front derailers, threaded interfaces or anything else where a penetrating lube needs to be neatly applied with a squeeze bottle (with applicator extension tube sized to limit the flow rate).