Hand Dryers vs. Paper Hand Towels

I can't remember the exact study but one noted some strange (though normal) use patterns that need to be taken into account. Conventional hand blowers never manage to get people's hands dry on one blow, so people tend to start them a second time. This would put them above paper towels except that when you put towel dispensers in toilets there are more than two paper towels per person used because quite a few people per- haps a little to worried about germs apparently use the paper to open doors. Here is a treehugger note about a study: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/lca_handdryer_papertowels.php and see also the claims being made by Dyson about their somewhat revolutionary approach to hand dryers (which they market on the energy cost savings): http://www.dysonairblade.com/

Cameron

Theres a company in Australia that provides 100% recycled bathroom tissues probably worth contacting them as they might know some information youre seeking. We use their products at our company and they were the only supplier we could find who delivered to our sustainable brief. 

http://www.truebluechemicals.com.au
http://www.baywestpaper.com.au

Howard Parry-Husbands MD
pollinate  www.pollinate.com.au

Hi Cameron,

Conventional hand blowers never manage to get people's hands dry on one blow, so people tend to start them a second time. This is not unknown. When hand blowers were introduced in my own (university) institution, we read the machine's operating instructions (Points 1-3) and added Point 4: wipe hands on jeans! quite a few people perhaps a little too worried about germs apparently use the paper to open doors. Such steps are actually advocated in Health & Safety at Work codes, which is a sorry regression for sustainable living. I say that, not only because it uses up more paper than is at all necessary, but it *increases* one's risk of picking up germs. By far the best way to resist germs is to have a strong internal defence, and one gets that THROUGH exposure to germs, not by avoiding them at all costs. Unless there are contagious diseases like scarlet fever running rampant, it is wise to have a sensible but slightly casual attitude to germs, and to allow one's own body to strengthen its natural defence corps.

Elizabeth Griffin
(Victoria, Canada)

I am constantly amused at the paper towel vs. hand dryer debate because the majority of hand dryers I have encountered do not actually do the job they are supposed to do. Why don't we just skip the dryer and let people go directly to step 4: "wipe hands on jeans" as Elizabeth pints out below. The only effective hand dryer I have ever encountered is one of the new generation ones. It sounded like a jet engine - you could hear it all the way down the hall. I have yet to be convinced - you have to produce a dryer that will actually dry your hands (at something less than 80 decibels) before you can conduct a fair comparison with paper towels. BTW - we use 100% recycled paper products in our bathrooms, but are investigating dryers.

Thanks & Adios,
CJD ----

Carol J. Dollard, P.E., LEED AP
Energy Engineer
[email protected]
(970) 491-0151
Mailing Address: Facilities Management
Colorado State University
6030 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-6030

What about cloth towel dispensers? I saw them used in France and thought they seemed like a good option. Has anyone seen a sustainability comparison of these with paper towels and hot air dryers? Example: http://www.nzts.co.nz/cloth.html

Thanks!
Jennifer Walford Vann

Wildlife Extension Program Assistant
Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS)
University of Florida
Telephone: 352.846.0554
Email: [email protected]

Hi Elizabeth -

I agree, jeans make the best towels. But really, bodies have mostly air-dried over the last 300,000 years, what could possibly be the problem with wet hands for a minute or two? Are dry hands (and all of our gratuitous hand-dryer equivalents) worth the end of life on earth? As for those little, mostly non-infectious thingies, one might say that our attitude towards microbes is a manifestation of our alienation from the natural world which we inhabit, and from which we are so desperately trying to distance ourselves. Alas, we may succeed all too well.

Adam from the Waterworld penitentiary, to which I have been confined, having been caught opening a door wet-handed

There was a study done years ago (that I heard about - sorry don't have a link) that showed that dryers bake the bacteria onto your hands - paper towels wipe it off, so towels were considered better. There are cloth towel machines as someone mentioned. The typical one in the US is a blue towel circulating system for auto and machine shop workers, but in 1993 when I worked in Germany at a Berlitz language school they had an automatic white cloth towel machine in the bathroom for office workers. It had a motion detector that automatically rotated the towel loop to the next section when you entered the bathroom. It was a small bathroom for one person at a time. I haven't seen that office type cloth towel system in the US yet. These cloth systems are a bit different from paper towel dispensers (although there are automated disposable towel dispensers now too) and have different maintenance (loading and unloading of the cloth towel loops is a bit tricky I found - and when the machine breaks) and the cloth towels loops get taken away for cleaning, of course, like a diaper service. The air dryers probably have the least maintenance but the most energy costs - at least on-site...

Peter Schultze-Allen

Environmental Analyst
City of Emeryville,
Public Works Department
1333 Park Ave, Emeryville, CA 94608
510-596-3728

Two things I would mention here. First is a study that UBC prof John Robinson often mentions in presentations where he says that environmental impact of hand dryers versus paper towels depends on where you live. For example if you live in British Columbia, which gets ninety-some-odd percent of its electricity from hydro then the hand dryers are more environmentally friendly. However, if you live in Alberta, which produces most of its electricity from coal then it's better to use paper towels.We did have the pull-on cloth dispensers many, many years ago and the following are some of the reasons that we switched to paper dispensers: Second is some reasons why handcloth dispensers are no longer used at UBC as they once were. These reasons were cited by our superintended of custodial services. a.. High traffic, therefore high usage b.. Don't have the manpower to change the cloths on an hourly basis c.. High cost of laundering the towels or cost of contracting laundry services d.. Cost of maintaining dispensers as they are broken, damaged or vandalized often [students often kick the dispensers off the walls], therefore once the dispenser is down, we would have to wait for the repair and/or replacement to occur. This would then mean that students would have nothing to wipe their hands with. e.. Towel dispenser not a preferred option by most users in high traffic area. Hope this is useful in this debate.

Nick Gallant

Outreach Coordinator
UBC Waste Management
86-2329 West Mall
T:604-822-9456
F:604-822-5209
E: [email protected]
Web: www.recycle.ubc.ca