What do you need to know about paper towels and electric hand dryers?
There is an ongoing discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of both paper towels and electric hand dryers in restrooms.
The argument that I hear most by public assembly facility engineers and operations personnel against paper towels stems from guests who unexplainably wad up paper towels and try to flush them down the toilet.
The Scott Paper Company invented paper towels in 1907. They were arguably an accident arising from both the company having a “railroad car full of paper rolls that were unsuitable to cut into toilet paper” and the response to a local Philadelphia school teacher’s efforts to curb the transmission of germs through the use of small pieces of soft paper for children with colds.
Regardless of the origin, paper towels have been the staple of restrooms since 1931.
Electric or “Jet” hand dryers have been around for a long time as well. The first model was produced in 1921. The most current version of the “Jet Dryer” was developed in 1993 and focused on blowing moisture off of the hands vs. the previous methods of evaporation.
Proponents of modern electric hand dryers have focused on overall savings which include the impact on the environment in the production of paper towel products, the cutting down and transporting of trees, the process and chemicals used to create paper towels, transportation, material handling and finally, waste stream consequences where someone has to bag them, cart them and truck them to a dump, taking up valuable land-fill space. These considerations are in addition to the previously stated concerns on clogging.
Conventional wisdom suggests that hand dryers are much less expensive to operate than paper towels. A hand dryer costs between .02 cents and .18 cents in electricity per dry vs. a paper towel that typically costs about 1 cent per sheet. (That equates to $20 in hand dryer costs vs. $250 in paper towel costs if the average use is 2.5 sheets per dry.) It takes more energy to manufacture a recycled paper towel than it does to operate a hand dryer. This does not take into account the “costs” of building the hand dryer, so it is not exactly apples to apples.
Some additional factors to consider are the noise that electric hand dryers can create. Some models can generate as much as 80db of sound in what is usually a small and highly reflective space (tile). Added to that is a sense that many people just prefer hand towels.
Environmentally, hand dryers beat paper towels, hands down (no pun intended).
In 2008, a published study was conducted by the University of Westminster to compare the levels of hygiene offered by paper towels, warm air hand dryers and the more modern jet-air hand dryers. The study found that after washing and drying hands with the warm air dryer, the total number of bacteria on the hands was found to have increased on the finger pads by 194% and on the palms of the hands by 254%. Drying with the jet air dryer resulted in an increase on average of the total number of bacteria on the finger pads by 42% and on the palms by 15% and, after washing and drying hands with a paper towel, the total number of bacteria was reduced on average on the finger pads by up to 76% and on the palms by up to 77%.
The scientists also carried out tests to establish whether there was the potential for cross contamination of other washroom users and the washroom environment as a result of each type of drying method. They found that:
The jet air dryer, which blows air out of the unit at claimed speeds of 400 mph (≈640 km/h), was capable of blowing microorganisms from the hands and the unit and potentially contaminating other washroom users and the washroom environment up to 2 meters (6 feet) away.
The use of a warm air hand dryer spread microorganisms up to 0.25 meters (10 inches) from the dryer.
Paper towels showed no significant spread of microorganisms.
The bottom line: I lean toward lessening the impact on the environment, gaining material and material handling cost savings, and having operational relief for our staff. No matter which direction you take, it does not look like anyone has really clean hands in this.
Russ Simons is...
managing partner, Venue Solutions Group, and has been in this industry for more than three decades, working in arenas, stadiums, design, construction, safety and security. Send questions about any aspect of venue operation to askruss@venuestoday.com or mail questions to Venues Today, P.O. Box 2540, Huntington Beach, CA 92647.