environmentally friendly hand drying?

Question

When you go to public toilets or some at a restaurant etc hat is the most environmentally friendly method of hand drying:

electric hand dryer (use electricity)
Paper towels (use paper that cannot be reycled but can be made of recycled materials)
Roller towels (need to be regularly washed prob at high temperature)

They all seem to have good and bad points regarding their environmentally friendlyness. What do you think is best and why

Answer 1

Someone asked this on a TV kids' science programme a couple of years ago. They did a test and decided that 10 seconds' hot air drying and paper towel were equal from an environmental point of view.

The roller towel will, as you say, use washing powder, & would've been bleached in its manufacture. The paper towel would've been dyed (that awful green!). Lets not forget that manufacturing plants often discharge into rivers.

The most environmentally friendly way to dry your hands is to just give them a shake! (Rubbing them down your trousers is an optional extra.)

Answer 2

So far I think dryad has the best answer. I am amazed at how many people think the answer is paper towel, because "there's no waste." Did you ever consider what it takes to produce a durable electrical appliance like a hand dryer? I am sure the production and transportation of the metal and other materials, the fabrication process, shipping and other supporting processes create lots of waste and environmental hazard. I'm also amazed at how many people think paper towels don't require electricity. The manufacture of paper towels certainly consumes electricity and natural resources, and generates heat, and there's also shipping and related processes involved. But when you divide that down to the amount of resources consumed per sheet of paper towel, it becomes rather miniscule. On the other hand, delivering electricity is not all that efficient. Heating air by electricity is not efficient. The dryers do such a poor job that people usually hit the button a second time, then walk away while the unit is still running. This is wasting electricity and heating air for no reason. And, if it is summer, chances are the bathroom is air conditioned! It would be great if those things ran on solar, but they'd still be heating the air unnecessarily. So you stand around running this machine multiple times, or leave the bathroom with WARM, wet hands, instead of just wet hands. As dryad pointed out, that's unhealthy. Those machines are there because it is cheaper for the owner of the establishment. That is the ONLY reason. The vague "better for the environment" text printed on the unit is just B.S. So, as others have mentioned, probably the best thing to do for the environment is carry your own towel (see: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). At the least, facilities that provide paper towels can use unbleached paper that is made from recycled material. That would help. And post reminders to people to use only one or two sheets. I hate it when people grab several sheets and then, with so much of what they've grabbed still unused, they just toss the whole wad in the general vicinity of the trash receptacle. Pigs.

Answer 3

Good question, i think recycled paper towels must be the most environmentally friendly, as they will require less energy to make and use than a Electric hand dryer, and also a roller towel must require more energy to manufacture and wash etc, plus when you think about disposal, the paper towels will break down much quicker than an electric hand dryer or roller towel sat on a land fill site.

Speaking for myself, many times using an electric hand dryer i just get bored with trying to dry my hands with them and walk off with wet hands leaving the thing running as most of them have a pathetic flow of air

Answer 4

The electric air dryer pushes warm damp air around the room; and the room is a toilet. They recycle every germ and virus in the air and aren't very good for your health. I let my hands air dry rather than use one.
Paper towels and rollers are the best for hygeine as the paper is thrown away after one use, and people pull down a fresh bit of towel to use.
You can put more than one towel in the wash at a time! The biggest problem is not just the laundry but the transport to and from the laundry; they aren't washed on the premises but collected by commercial laundries.
And thats also true for paper towels, they have to be collected and delivered. The dye is not a problem as its 'green' (not just the foul colour!) and the paper is recycled. But then they either go to landfill or incineration.

Just flick your hands in the sink and let them air dry!

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=carbon+footprint&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Use the carbon footprint calculator to figure out your impact on the environment, and check out the other sites for the info you want!

Answer 5

Depends what you mean by environmentally friendly. Do you mean to the environment we live in, or the one you have to get on with life in? Research has shown that the most effective way to rid hands of germs after washing them is to wipe them off with a towel. I am not sure how many people would use a roller towel before it would be considered unhygenic. Electric dryers without a switch to push are probably best for that, they turn off automatically when not in use.
I would be concerned with the hygenic angle as much, if not more, as environmental issues.

Answer 6

If electricity source is wind, solar or hydro, it is very clean, check it. If it is coal or oil, it depends on where you are.

We cann t know how they wash towels, but probably you are right, they wash at high temperatures. They probably use electricity plus transportation, so probably not the best way.

Paper cann t be recycled for paper, but can be used for biomass, but probably they dont recycle it.

Then, my opinion, use electric hand dryier. If you are in Europe, over 50% of posibilities that it will not produce GHG, even if they use coal or oil as electricity source.

Answer 7

I'd really support echo's opinion above. It's not difficult to get used to dry your hands by simply keeping them at ambient temperature for a (very) short while. You might want to try it.

Answer 8

hand dryer, it doesnt use as much electric as a washing machine and doesnt cause as much waste as paper towels

Answer 9

For people who are -really- picky, the best way to dry your hands is...

Air drying.

Just stand in the bathroom and wave your hands around a bit and they'll dry.