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The Matchbook
Paper towels vs. hand dryers
By Darin Kwilinski
Tough decisions plague us everyday. One of the tougher ones is after youve done your dirty deeds in the little boys and girls room: paper towel or hand dryer?
Tough decisions plague us everyday. For example, what do we eat for lunch or what class do we skip? Or, how about when do we fill up on gas or what to do about world peace?
But one of the tougher ones is after youve done your dirty deeds in the little boys and girls room: paper towel or hand dryer?
Its no easy task to dissect this complicated choice, but it can be done.
The low down
Paper towels have been around for about a hundred years. There are two types of paper towels. The first is domestic, which is what you use to pick up spilled beer or vomit at your party. The second is institutional, which is what you pick up at Taco Bell in the Union or use in the bathroom. It is rough to the touch and brown in color.
Hand dryers come in many shapes and sizes, but they have two types as well. The first is the button pushing hand dryer, which has a set time until its done. The second is the motion sensing hand dryer, which stops when you stop because you think your hand is dry enough to finish wiping on your pants.
Efficiency
Hand dryers are extremely efficient compared to its bathroom buddy counterpart. They can reduce costs by up to 90 percent and can save energy by up to 80 percent. They reduce litter and space and even have the bonus of warming your hands. The janitors get a break as well because hand dryers dont break down too often and dont need to be replaced like paper towels.
Hand towels are the quick route to getting out of the bathroom. Usually, people use more than one, and half the time the dispenser isnt even full. (I find this is a problem with the soap, too.)
Hand towels are pretty good at getting most of the moisture off your hands, but take up more space than you may think. Theres the space to get it to the establishment, the space it takes up in storage, space on the wall, the space in the garbage can, the space the garbage bag takes up in the dumpster and dump truck, and the space in the landfill. Im sure there is more space Im not accounting for.
Verdict
Hand dryers reign supreme in this one. They are ridiculously efficient when compared to paper towels. The only reason paper towels are still used is because people are impatient.
Could you imagine waiting in a line for drying your hands? No. Most people would just wipe their hands on their pants. Of course, people could just go the primitive route and just not wash their hands at all. But we are all smart enough to be sanitary, arent we?
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