Drying your hands after washing them thoroughly is an essential part of hand hygiene and plays an important role in preventing the spread of germs. Some bacteria and germs can remain on your hands after washing and are more easily spread by wet hands as germs prefer moisture. This is the reason hand sanitizers are used so much in hospitals. Most washrooms, these days provide either hot or cold air hand dryers or paper towels to dry hands, but which is best?
Which is better in terms of cost, hygiene, and environment?
Cost
Hand Dryers
For most businesses cost is one of the most important factors when choosing between installing hand dryers or supplying paper towels.
Hand dryers are usually either rented or bought outright from a hygiene service company such as CLD. Under the rental scheme, the dryers will be regularly serviced to ensure optimal functioning, but this will be an extra expense if dryers have been purchased outright. The initial cost of purchasing a hand dryer can sometimes deter some customers but with the low running costs of the more modern hand dryers compared to the steadily rising cost of paper, this cost is significantly lower.
Paper Towels
The start up cost of a paper towel dispenser will be very little but the ongoing expense of replenishing your dispenser will be far more than the cost of running a hand dryer. The price of paper towels varies of course depending on which brand you buy and obviously the quality of the paper towel.
Hygiene
Hand Dryers
Over the past few years there have been several studies to test the hygiene performance of different types of hand dryers. Some studies of the use of hand dryers in public washrooms claim that hand dryers contribute to the spread of germs, mostly by bacteria being pulled into the dryer from the surrounding air. So every time a toilet is flushed, a fine mist containing germs and bacteria disperses into the air which is then sucked into the dryer during its use and then blasted out into the washroom. There’s also the question of people not washing their hands thoroughly and then placing them into a blast of warm air.
Older style dryers are less hygienic as they require the user to push a button which could be harbouring bacteria. However, the more modern hand dryers are fitted with HEPA filters which remove any pollutants from the incoming air. They also do not require any touch to operate them making them more hygienic for the user.
Paper Towels
Paper towels are the preferred method of hand drying for the public and it’s easy to see why. Sometimes people don’t dry their hands for long enough with a hand dryer especially if they are in a rush, but paper towels are quick and easy to use, and very effective at drying hands. They are also said to remove more germs from wet hands than dryers.
The downside to their use that they often create overflowing bins, with paper towels spilling onto the floor making washrooms look dirty and unhygienic.
Environment
Hand Dryers
Hand dryers are generally considered to be more eco friendly than paper towels because they don’t create paper waste or contribute to deforestation.
In terms of energy use, it’s generally accepted that modern hand dryers are more eco-friendly to use than paper towels because they use less energy overall, considering transportation and production costs and energy per use. Although a fair amount of energy is used in manufacturing hand dryers, they last quite a long time, typically up to ten years which means that production accounts for only a small part of the dryers’ overall energy consumption.
Paper Towels
The manufacture, distribution and eventual disposal of paper towels uses lots of energy and ends up releasing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the environment. Their production uses chemicals, electricity and lots of water as well as contributing to deforestation. Used paper towels can’t be recycled so end up in landfill adding to an ever-increasing waste problem.
In Conclusion
We hope we’ve made things a bit clearer for you and at the end of the day the choice is really yours and depends on your particular set up, but these are the key points to help you when deciding.
Although the initial cost of hand dryers will be more expensive than paper towel dispensers, once installed they are cheaper to run compared to the ongoing costs of purchasing paper towels. Hand dryers are also better for the environment overall. However, in terms of hygiene, there have been so many conflicting studies about which is more hygienic, paper towels or hand dryers. The hygiene performance of some older style hand dryers is at least questionable however when comparing the more modern touchless dryers which are fitted with HEPA filters, there seems to be no definite consensus as to which is better. Whatever method of hand drying you choose, the most important thing to remember is that washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds and then drying them thoroughly is the best way to stop the spread of germs.