Hand Dryers Vs Paper Towels Environmental Impact

In fact in the us 2 of total landfill consists of paper towels.

Hand dryers vs paper towels environmental impact. Clearly electric hand dryers also have an impact on the environment that should not be ignored. Warm air dryers have the largest impact during use. Life cycle assessment of hand drying systems. It was found that their environmental impact is very close to regular paper towels.

Jet hand dryers which are energy efficient release 0 088 pounds per use. Using a standard hand dryer releases 0 02 pounds of greenhouse gas per use. Paper towels least green way of drying hands study finds the guardian electric hand dryers vs. The research paper compared the seven most common drying methods in public toilets and concludes that paper towels and warm air hand dryers have the highest environmental toll generating 70.

The environmental impact of electric hand dryers. 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. Sarah lee the guardian as an invention the paper towel isn t much older than the hand dryer. Both hand dryers and paper towels carry an environmental cost so the lantern s peers typically advise folks to wipe their hands on their trousers.

Both consume more energy water and create waste compared to the most efficient hand dryers. Both types of hand dryers have less environmental impact than 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. They work better than paper towels they cost less in the not so long run and they re better for the environment.

Calculating the impact of electric dryers. 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. I was able to find several different news articles discussing this topic. Environmental impact of hand dryers.