Hand Dryers Vs Paper Towels

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Hand Dryers and Paper Towels, Which are Best

Hand hygiene is essential in controlling the spread of germs in any school or workplace, but there are various things that you should consider when choosing between hand dryers and paper towels. Aside from the initial and ongoing costs, you should be certain that the choice you make is right for your users and has minimal environmental impact.

Are Paper Towels More Hygienic than Hand Dryers?

Opinions differ on whether hand dryers or paper towels are more hygienic, and there are convincing arguments either way. Modern hand dryers are effective at preventing the spread of germs through a number of innovations. The use of a no-touch automatic design means that users do not need to make contact with surfaces when using the appliance which reduces opportunities for transmission from person to person.

Additionally, the use of antibacterial materials in the design of a modern hand dryers such as the Mitsubishi Electric Wave i01 or u02 models means that they can be cleaned easily and do not permit germs to grow on their surfaces.

Hand dryers also result in less waste being generated in bathrooms. Paper towels cannot be recycled and instead need to go to landfill as they can be contaminated with a variety of pathogens during the drying process.

Are Hand Dryers More Expensive than Paper Towels?

The initial cost of hand dryers is much higher than that of paper towels, but the ongoing costs can be much lower. Rather than needing to regularly re-stock paper towels through a supplier, the only ongoing costs for a hand dryer are limited to the electricity use.

A modern, energy efficient hand dryer such as the Mitsubishi Electric Wave u02 can cost as little as £10 per year to run based on 100 daily uses. For the same amount of use, paper towels would cost £292 – almost thirty times as much.

Are Hand Dryers More Environmentally Friendly than paper towels?

Approximately 17 trees are required for the production of each tonne of paper towels, and once used, the waste cannot be recycled for hygiene reasons. The manufacturing, transportation, and disposal of paper towels is environmentally costly. At relatively low levels of use (100 daily uses), the use of paper towels would result in more than 600Kg of carbon emissions.

Thanks to energy efficient design, the figure for a modern hand dryer is much lower than this. Used 100 times daily over the course of a year, a Mitsubishi Electric Wave u02 dryer would be responsible for just 35Kg of greenhouse gas emissions from power generation.

Find Out More

We can help you choose a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective way of fitting out your bathrooms. Request a demo of the Mitsubishi Electric Wave range of hand dryers today.