I hate air dryers perhaps slightly too vehemently. I think it would be a net positive even if they were simply removed from everywhere without replacement.
I'm not sure why they're so common given that they seem to only make things worse.
I'm not sure why they're so common given that they seem to only make things worse.
- Paper towels? Environmentally unsound.
- Washable towel on a continuous roller/spindle thing? Common in past decades, now pretty rare. Requires regular servicing. Expensive? [1]
- Don’t offer hand drying at all? Uncomfortable especially in cold climates. Might discourage people from washing their hands at all.
While I agree they need to be quieter, Hand dryers are still the best technology we have right now.
[1] The British Library still uses these in their washrooms, presumably because of noise concerns with hand dryers.
I don't see why these paper towels would not be 100% recyclable or that much different to regular toilet paper. Also, what if people would like to wash other body parts that can't be put in an airblade e.g. face?
You're forgetting that we have to create paper towels/toilet paper, etc. from trees. And we aren't just talking a few trees, it's a deforestation issue.
Sure we could replant trees, etc, etc, but it still destroys the current eco-systems living there.
I still see the towel rolls around, they're a good option as well. Maintenance for (esp. public) toilets is never not going to be a thing, but it does require a bit more infrastructure to maintain (= washing out etc). But there's companies that will take care of that.
Not offering hand drying is the worst; drying your hands is arguably even more important than washing them when it comes to hygiene.
Anyway beyond that, fixing the hand dryers is also an option. Use larger but slower rotating fans. Dyson's machines have the problem that they have relatively small, high-speed motors.
On top of that, people might be using it to wipe anything, which could potentially ruin the rest of the recycling.
If you're putting any of that into your recycling, you're doing it wrong.
Also, do not recycle any paper/cardboard with grease or food contamination, especially pizza boxes with grease on, they will also ruin a recycling run.
Hence the main problem with recycling. No reasonable person can know all the rules about plastics, what kinds of papers, etc. Why can't sorters sort it all out? Because nobody knows what to pre-sort.
Recology has probably the most complicated arrangement I've had, and, well, this is not exactly rocket surgery:
https://www.recology.com/recology-san-francisco/what-goes-wh...
Humans...
Another poster mentioned that their child's high school didn't have any paper towels, which I can only assume is because the kids were wetting them and throwing them around the bathroom ceiling and walls to make them stick, which is something even I (regrettably) took part of as a middle school child.
It's not the outside temperature that'd discourage the already apparently slim number of people that do bother to wash their hands. It's water temperature. And if the water is freezing, no drying method will get the average joe to endure the pain of water hitting their hands.
yes, paper towels, perfectly recyclable and hygienic. Allows wiping face/neck as well.
I don't get the discouraging part and cold climates. It requires hot water, but that's it.
Not true by my experience. I'd say maybe a third of the toilets I use (in Europe) have these cloth rolls.
Air hand dryer:
One purchase - zero daily maintenance needs.
Paper towels:
Continuous purchase expense (buying new stock) - continuous daily maintenance needs (resupply of dispenser), increased refuse expense (all the discarded paper towels increase the refuse stream size).
When you tally up the expenses for "air dryer" vs. "paper towels" for a busy restroom and over a reasonable time span (say 1 year) the cost differential is why air dryers are so common.
Of course, some owners also advertise the environmental aspects, but the true reality is the air dryer is there because it saves the restroom owner a significant amount of money each year.
When I was little I used to be worried they would eat my fingers, particularly ones that looked like https://i.imgur.com/hCMAQV7.jpg with that little shiny metal dome. It kind of made me think it was hot and i'd somehow burn myself.
I wonder whether those super-fast ones (like the dyson airblades) are better or worse for children these days.
With paper towels, you need to visit a busy bathroom a few times a day to empty the trash.