Hand Dryers Vs Paper Towels Environmental Impact

I was able to find several different news articles discussing this topic.

Hand dryers vs paper towels environmental impact.

Both consume more energy water and create waste compared to the most efficient hand dryers. Life cycle assessment of hand drying systems. Jet hand dryers which are energy efficient release 0 088 pounds per use. Whilst there s a significant environmental impact associated with paper towels clearly electric hand dryers also have an impact that we shouldn t ignore however this impact is significantly less than many people think.

At home use reusable cloths in most cleaning tasks. Sarah lee the guardian as an invention the paper towel isn t much older than the hand dryer. In fact in the us 2 of total landfill consists of paper towels. The environmental impact of hand drying is therefore most significantly affected by how much and what type of paper towel we use or how much energy is consumed by the electric hand dryer.

A cutaway model of the dyson airblade from the time of its uk launch in 2006. Calculating the impact of electric dryers. It was found that their environmental impact is very close to regular paper towels. Clearly electric hand dryers also have an impact on the environment that should not be ignored.

Paper towels slate the use and abuse of paper towels the new york times the most thorough treatment i found comes from an mit study referenced by the guardian. Paper towels least green way of drying hands study finds the guardian electric hand dryers vs. Environmental impact of hand dryers. They work better than paper towels they cost less in the not so long run and they re better for the environment.

Hand dryers last between seven to 10 years. Using a standard hand dryer releases 0 02 pounds of greenhouse gas per use. The environmental impact of electric hand dryers. Both types of hand dryers have less environmental impact than paper towels.