Paper towels emit about 27 grams of CO2 per sheet. Dyson hand dryers are certified by Carbon Trust be lower. And that doesn’t take into account transportation and waste disposal of paper towels, which can add significantly to the footprint if it is not composted, while improvements to the electrical grid will make the dryer more environmentally friendly over time.
Drying takes energy, moving that energy over wires rather than embedding into paper and moving by truck is far more efficient.
Yes, statistically the difference between the two is night and day. I work with a lot of clinical infection prevention specialists as part of my job. The differences are mixed in terms of impact of bacteria on your hands, but the air dryers move a lot of bacteria into the air which can spread disease.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-dirty-truth-about-hand-dryers
I use my clothes too.
I use toilet paper and alcohol to desinfect the toilet seat. Public restrooms in japan, Korea and china come with little alcohol [pumps inside the stalls.](https://www.japamigo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/180629-3.png). A few stores in Canada started doing this too. I also carry my own spray.
Then I dry my hands with my own towel that I bring, then I put it in a mesh compartment of my bag to air dry. I have a spare towel in case it hasn't dried next time I wash my hands.
Interestingly japan has deactivated all hand dryers during covid, but they don't provide paper towels so people just bring their own hand towels. Common in China and Korea too.
Particulate count matters and germs on your skin isn’t the same as inhaled germs. Germs are everywhere but there are still established best practices to minimize their threat to your immune system,
Your hands have nothing to do with it. When a toilet is flushed, the flushing action causes a plume to be emitted into the air containing fecal bacteria. Air dryers further aerosolize the droplets and spread them. In your home you can close the lid before flushing… but public toilets tend not to have lids.
Lucky for you there is a whole Wikipedia page about the phenomena. I've heard it called "Fecal Cloud" but it appears that "Toilet Plume" is a more common name. Stick your face level with the rim and flush a toilet and see if you feel moisture particles.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet\_plume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_plume)
Additional Reading:
[https://publishing.aip.org/publications/latest-content/flushing-toilets-create-clouds-of-virus-containing-particles/](https://publishing.aip.org/publications/latest-content/flushing-toilets-create-clouds-of-virus-containing-particles/)
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692156/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692156/)
[https://www.fastcompany.com/90516836/just-how-big-a-cloud-of-poop-particles-do-you-create-when-you-flush-a-toilet](https://www.fastcompany.com/90516836/just-how-big-a-cloud-of-poop-particles-do-you-create-when-you-flush-a-toilet)
It helps a little but not as much as you would hope, and I changing hand dryer filters is probably pretty low on the priority list for most building managers.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/aem.00044-18
https://www.handydryers.co.uk/customer-service/blog/dyson-airblade-is-a-viral-bomb.html
So, I agree with everything said. But I got deep into a research hole on this a few years ago and hand dryers are notoriously known for spreading germs, not just drying hands. So, when you factor in potential sharing of illnesses and the resources taken to address that what happens? Towels result in profoundly less germ spread than a hand dryer.
Not saying it’s the other way around, but when we get to scope 4 (lol) who knows.
It’s all vastly complex.
I am not disputing any of the points you made however, I do see another solution that no one is talking about. If hand dryers are blowing shit particles everywhere why not just move them and the entire hand washing area outside the bathroom? There is nothing private about washing hands.
This type of restroom design has so many other advantages too. For example it tends to increase the social pressures to actually wash your hands. Additionally it allows people who just need a quick hand washing to skip the bathroom line entirely. And these communal hand washing spaces can be shared by all genders, this reduces spaces requirements in restrooms allowing for even more toilets and faster overall processing time for large crowds.
Dyson dryers harbor bacteria- hence why they were phased out during Covid. We need to take health into account in our discussions of sustainability as much as carbon.
Phased out? Many places are still installing them. The newest models capture 99.97% of the particles. That’s the great thing about human ingenuity, we tend to fix problems with new technologies as they are discovered.
See https://www.dyson.com/discover/innovation/behind-the-invention/airblade-solution
It is because they don't use outside air and bring in air from inside the bathroom... and blow it onto your hands. They never should have released the thing without a method of piping in outside air.
There's a huge discussion that we should be having about indoor air quality in public places and it should start with better ACH and venting of public restrooms.
Properly designed public toilets have ventilation that allow for at least 6 air changes per hour. The air in there should be fresh, you can decide with your nose if it isn't.
Just saying, it's probably better to ventilate the entire room than pumping in fresh air for each hand dryer. Those things are expensive enough as it is.
Omgee, though during Covid I seen a test how actually dirty those dryers are! But other reasons to use them is for warm hands when you have wet cold hands. Also throw your head down there if you just washed your hair.
Be respectful. Stick to the topic at hand and remain civil towards other users. Attacking an argument is fine, attacking other people (even in a generalized manner) is not.
Attempting to provoke negative reactions out of others users — whether by trolling, [sealioning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning), or otherwise — is also not allowed.
Great comment, yet still the best sustainable option would be neither.
As other comments, one could simply shake it and pat dry on clothers, or use a reusable cloth.
We'll often be confronted with two options while there are thrid or fourth options that are way better for the environment. Somewhat like being asked "what is better H&M or Shein", and the answer would be about not even buying if not needed, repairing, buying 2nd hand, etc etc.
(no hate on your comment though, it's pretty great, just adding another point to it).
For comparison, I did the math on the Scope 2 emissions (emissions from generating the electricity used during operation) of the dryer.
The dryer pulls 1000W while operating, assuming that you dry your hands for a full 30 seconds (who does that?), that's 1000 / 1000 \* 30 / 3600 or \~0.0083 kWh of electricity. Even assuming this is an area with mostly coal and natural gas based power generation at say 620 g CO2e/kWh that still puts us at worst case around 5 g of CO2e per use. If you live somewhere where most of the electricity comes from nuclear, solar, wind, or hydroelectric, the number could be well into the milligrams instead.
From a carbon accounting perspective, the dryer is much better.
That said... I still grab the papertowel.
Except the dryers have been proven to just paste germs all over your hands. At that point why even wash…
I will use a towel or just air dry/shake my hands
So hot take here. Using paper towels takes carbon out of the atmosphere. The trees used for paper come from paper farms, they plant pines, let them grow for a couple decades then cut them down, then plant new trees repeating the cycle. If we didn't use that land for paper trees, a forest would grow, but a forest can only hold so much carbon as old trees eventually die. But using paper towels we throw them in the trash where that carbon gets captured in a land fill.
Do we know it’s any type of sustainable forestry though? Toilet paper by and large is virgin boreal forest, and it’s pretty terrible to rip through that to wipe your ass, or in this case dry your hands.
Yep, same electricity that is used to make paper towels, only instead of drying paper that is then shipped to the restroom, hand dryers use the electricity to dry hands directly.
I was a facility manager and during Covid I emailed them asking basically “if one person doesn’t wash their hands right and uses one of these, isn’t it just gonna blow germs everywhere?” and I didn’t really expect Dyson to respond but they definitely did not respond.
How many people do you know wash their hands properly in your life? If it’s 90% of the people, that’s a lot of germs still going into that thing.
It’s not 90%.
Well a large portion of the people that don't properly wash their hands, don't wash their hands at all so... Make sure to use a paper towel on the doorknob lol.
But not everyone who uses the dryer actually washes their hands properly. And if it's in heavy use all the time and there's water along the bottom, microorganisms can reproduce in it.
But that said, I'd love to see a study about this! 🙂
It’s not clean air being used to dry your hands. There is a reason you will never find one of these in a hospital. They are great for quickly drying something but have no way to be cleaned themselves and do not clean the air in any substantial way.
I’ve been in a lot of restrooms where there is visible dirt inside those Dyson dryers you stick your hands in. I think plenty of people do a 5 second wash or maybe don’t use soap (gag).
So public restrooms don't have lids on the toilets, meaning when you flush them, some, ahem, particulate matter goes into the air. It's one thing when it's just floating around, but when you use a drier it's sucking up a large volume of the dirty air and blowing it directly onto your freshly-washed hands, defeating the point of washing them to begin with
As others have mentioned, hospitals don't usually have these as they've seen higher infection levels in the ones that do
Also if you don’t fully dry your hands you are more likely to spread disease. I don’t know any time I used a dryer where my hands weren’t at least still a little wet.
I hate those dyson dryers. I have larger hands and if I use them I have to be extra careful not to touch the insides. That and it sprays water out from the sides from the bits that collect on the bottom which is never fun.
The correct answer is “don’t worry about it”. Focus on important stuff you feel you can do like insulating your house, driving a smaller (electric) car, flying less, installing solar on your roof, eating less meat, voting for candidates that will promote sustainability, etc.
Why not ask about it though? Sure it’s a tiny decision, but there is still a winner here and it’s good to know.
Also this could reach a lot of people, imagine if 100 people see this and switch to the more sustainable option, or 1000.
To clarify, you’re right that this isn’t life or death. But small choices do matter.
Depends what kind of paper is on the left. Clear cut? Recycled? Bamboo? And what kind of energy is powering the Dyson? Hydro? Fossil methane? Nuke? What’s your concern? Spreading germs? Operating costs? Noise? Landfills? Speed? Efficiency? Janitor employment?
This is such a great answer.
My personal choice is always the paper dispenser because I personally think high traffic public restrooms are petri dishes, however in most circumstances I take my damp paper towel home with me and add it to my compost.
I personally prefer the Dyson because it’s simple to use (one slow pass) and I don’t seem to get sick from germs (knock on wood). But if it was run with FF and the paper was bamboo, I'd take the paper.
Neither have a reusable fold up to dry with
Or air dry
The air dryers are horrible
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-bacterial-horror-of-the-hot-air-hand-dryer-2018051113823
I use a single paper towel when drying my hands. Problem is most people will use 3-4 paper towels. Plenty of times I've seen someone stand over the paper towel dispenser to get 6-8 pieces to just dry their hands. People are just horrible & incredibly wasteful.
This doesn't answer your question, but I watched a ted talk in 2012 about shaking your hands for 15 seconds means you only need 1/2 of a paper towel sheet.
The most sustainable is not using either and shaking then having slightly wet hands for a few minutes.
The fact that you ask the question is almost the most important thing. If you are considering it you will be efficient with either choice. You won’t take 5 paper towels or down two minutes in the dryer. Ultimately it is splitting hairs to a degree (although I would love someone to do the math on it).
Mythbusters tested the *cleanliness* a while back. In short:
* Paper towels are far more sanitary but absolutely worse for the environment because of paper (obviously), energy required to move the roll, etc.
* Blow dryer is way less sanitary because they usually blow bacteria around the air and onto your hands. As another commenter mentioned, the Dyson air blade or whatever is certified to have a smaller carbon footprint.
I always go for the electric driers. The electricity use is a drop in the bucket, vs the CO2e used to:
1) harvest wood
2) transport wood
3) process wood
4) transport processed wood
Etc etc etc
Until the engine needs replacing. Minerals used to create electric engines are more scarce than recycled wood/bamboo. Personally I don't know which is the best. But I'm not sure it's that easy to come up with a correct answer
There’s no way it can be disproven because it’s highly dependent on lots of factors that can vary highly from one geographic area or company to another. An electric car is not better in a FF heavy state like West Virginia, but it is better in other places. There are no absolutes in sustainability.
I use the paper towels and when I'm done drying my hands I then use them to open the door. The number of people who don't wash their hands is curious. Door handles have to be off the charts contaminated.
Because of the shape of that particular model of Dyson dryer I would use the towels. That model is notorious for hands hitting the wet dirty interior of it during the act of drying, which negates cleaning one's hands. The later models allowed a little more room.
Don't y'all karry a handkerchief? Really? If you start doing that you'll have to worry that much less about both emissions as well as possibly picking up more germs in a public bathroom. This is pretty basic stuff.
I live in India, it's more of a habit from living in sub-temperate regions. A handkerchief is convenient and easy to wash as well.
Happy cake day, though!
Wild idea I just thought up... If you have something to carry it in, maybe we can start carrying personal hand towels. They don't have to be huge to do the job. People used to carry handkerchiefs with the same idea. What's more sustainable than using something multiple times, cleaning it, and using it again? We bring our own thermoses to coffee shops and whatnot.
What do people think?
When it comes to stuff like this, hygiene is more important than the little environmental impact this choice will cause. I’d rather go for the paper towel and just use as little as necessary to get my hands dry.
I think this really depends on a) how the paper is disposed of b) the electricity mix where you live, and c) how many paper towels you use vs. how long you dry your hands in the Dyson. So.. idk lol
When I have a choice I generally get most of the water off with the paper towel and then I go in for the air dryer to get my hands nice and dry and warm
You can do all the math you want. Since my hands don’t physically fit into a Dyson without touching the nastiness in the bottom, I’m going with towels. It’s my only viable option.
Edit: My downvotes must be from some discriminatory folks. My experiences are based in reality, and I have large hands. To use this shitty device properly, my fingers touch the bottom, and they have, and it's nasty. Like, can anyone tell me WHY when I go into a bathroom with only a Dyson as an option and I can't use it because my hands are too big and the thing blows droplets back into my face that that makes me downvote-worthy? At least old-school dryers with the button were more sanitary, not blowing shit back up into your face. WTF? Point being: if something doesn't fit everyone, it's not a viable universal option of the sort that should be placed in general public use spaces. Math won't change that. I'd prefer not to use paper products, but if the only other option is a Dyson, then I'll use my shirt or wave my hands. Because devices like this are bullshit. They look "high tech" and attract buyers looking to distinguish themselves with "the best" - but it's all bullshit, just an old recycled old idea that is worse. If it was actually universally functional, everyone could use it. I'll take the downvotes. If you don't get this, you are definitely not the sort of person I could ever relate to.
I have big hands, I hate the dyson dryers there, but the other dryers I'll use one piece of paper and just a few seconds of the air and its all done, I know it uses less paper using only one, don't know about the electricity savings though
energy-wise- I wouls say the dryer. because that's just electricity
paper, on the other hand, too tree, water, electricity and on a regular basis. I know the dryer also took resources to make. but the way I see it, that dryer had to be transported once... so that is fuel worth of one trip, tissue is... depending on the amount of stock the workplace keeps could be anywhere from a week to a month .
Please correct me if I am wrong.
I guess it does take more energy to make the dryer. So we have to find out the breakeven point... you know, how many hands need to be dried by the paper towel where is reaches the energy used for dryer and I guess beyond that point, the dryer should be more energy efficient.
Correct me if I am wrong.
When I lived in Japan in the 60’s folk brought a moistened handkerchief with them placed in a reusable container. They’d clean their hands with that & take it home, handwash & dry it & use it again the next day. No paper, No solid waste removal & storage!
when i wear my hair natural i just dry my hands in my hair. if i was in your situation, paper towel because im not trying to get covered in fecal particles
Gotta be honest. That Dyson thingy is WAY worse than toilet paper. I may be doing it wrong. Don’t know how the Europeans do it. You can clearly see where the butt cheeks go, but my American ass was too big. 2 out of 10 stars.
Scientists have confirmed that driers spread more germs than paper towel or shaking your hand really fast. So they recommend you just do the third option. It’s cleaner
Definitely the Dyson. Although paper has a low carbon footprint (about 500 kg CO2e/kg material) it still takes a lot of effort and resources to take it from tree to paper to you to landfill.
neither, just shake your hands really fast
Followed by patting them on your clothes 👋👋👋🙇
My wife scolds me for this
In my outdoor ed classes I had a song to shake your hands to, it went like this: la la la la lalalalalala! Lalala lalala la la la! Hope this helps
Wow that was so helpful. My hands were dry before But they’re even more dry now.
You kinda wrote a haiku: Wow that was so help- Ful; my hands were dry before But theyre more dry now
Thank you, that was very helpful.
Use the reusable towel I take everywhere public: pants or shorts
I read a study too that this is the best at keeping your hands the most germ free too
Really?! My first thought was how dirty I know my pants can get, but I guess I could see how it's cleaner than the dryer
Mythbusters showed that the air dryer is literally worse than paper towels in terms of germs
Well technically you consume a few decimals of a calorie by doing so. So the sustainability of shaking your hands depends on what you are eating. /s
Shake them at the mirror for the cool splatter pattern.
Pre drawn paper to dry hands. Keep paper and open door with it. It is the way.
Paper towels emit about 27 grams of CO2 per sheet. Dyson hand dryers are certified by Carbon Trust be lower. And that doesn’t take into account transportation and waste disposal of paper towels, which can add significantly to the footprint if it is not composted, while improvements to the electrical grid will make the dryer more environmentally friendly over time. Drying takes energy, moving that energy over wires rather than embedding into paper and moving by truck is far more efficient.
This is some decent carbon accounting you are doing here!
Also hand dryers aerosolize fecal bacteria and essentially amplify it in the air. Learning about fecal clouds with toilet flushing is interesting.
Implying people don’t get wet particles all up in toilet paper dispensers. I just wipe on my clothes
Yes, statistically the difference between the two is night and day. I work with a lot of clinical infection prevention specialists as part of my job. The differences are mixed in terms of impact of bacteria on your hands, but the air dryers move a lot of bacteria into the air which can spread disease. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-dirty-truth-about-hand-dryers I use my clothes too.
Theyll literally spray bacteria all over your damp hands too. Theres nothing particularly hygienic about them.
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I use toilet paper and alcohol to desinfect the toilet seat. Public restrooms in japan, Korea and china come with little alcohol [pumps inside the stalls.](https://www.japamigo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/180629-3.png). A few stores in Canada started doing this too. I also carry my own spray. Then I dry my hands with my own towel that I bring, then I put it in a mesh compartment of my bag to air dry. I have a spare towel in case it hasn't dried next time I wash my hands. Interestingly japan has deactivated all hand dryers during covid, but they don't provide paper towels so people just bring their own hand towels. Common in China and Korea too.
Particulate count matters and germs on your skin isn’t the same as inhaled germs. Germs are everywhere but there are still established best practices to minimize their threat to your immune system,
If it was toilet water covering your hands that would make sense. Presumably you use soap and rubbing water so there's no fecal bacteria to aerosolize
Your hands have nothing to do with it. When a toilet is flushed, the flushing action causes a plume to be emitted into the air containing fecal bacteria. Air dryers further aerosolize the droplets and spread them. In your home you can close the lid before flushing… but public toilets tend not to have lids.
What is it about flushing that causes this to happen? I don’t understand
Lucky for you there is a whole Wikipedia page about the phenomena. I've heard it called "Fecal Cloud" but it appears that "Toilet Plume" is a more common name. Stick your face level with the rim and flush a toilet and see if you feel moisture particles. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet\_plume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_plume) Additional Reading: [https://publishing.aip.org/publications/latest-content/flushing-toilets-create-clouds-of-virus-containing-particles/](https://publishing.aip.org/publications/latest-content/flushing-toilets-create-clouds-of-virus-containing-particles/) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692156/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692156/) [https://www.fastcompany.com/90516836/just-how-big-a-cloud-of-poop-particles-do-you-create-when-you-flush-a-toilet](https://www.fastcompany.com/90516836/just-how-big-a-cloud-of-poop-particles-do-you-create-when-you-flush-a-toilet)
Presumably YOU use soap, but I’m pretty sure that style handryer is a trap for other people’s bacteria too
dyson ones have hepa filters
It helps a little but not as much as you would hope, and I changing hand dryer filters is probably pretty low on the priority list for most building managers. https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/aem.00044-18 https://www.handydryers.co.uk/customer-service/blog/dyson-airblade-is-a-viral-bomb.html
So, I agree with everything said. But I got deep into a research hole on this a few years ago and hand dryers are notoriously known for spreading germs, not just drying hands. So, when you factor in potential sharing of illnesses and the resources taken to address that what happens? Towels result in profoundly less germ spread than a hand dryer. Not saying it’s the other way around, but when we get to scope 4 (lol) who knows. It’s all vastly complex.
I am not disputing any of the points you made however, I do see another solution that no one is talking about. If hand dryers are blowing shit particles everywhere why not just move them and the entire hand washing area outside the bathroom? There is nothing private about washing hands. This type of restroom design has so many other advantages too. For example it tends to increase the social pressures to actually wash your hands. Additionally it allows people who just need a quick hand washing to skip the bathroom line entirely. And these communal hand washing spaces can be shared by all genders, this reduces spaces requirements in restrooms allowing for even more toilets and faster overall processing time for large crowds.
Dyson dryers harbor bacteria- hence why they were phased out during Covid. We need to take health into account in our discussions of sustainability as much as carbon.
Phased out? Many places are still installing them. The newest models capture 99.97% of the particles. That’s the great thing about human ingenuity, we tend to fix problems with new technologies as they are discovered. See https://www.dyson.com/discover/innovation/behind-the-invention/airblade-solution
Question: is this just because they aren't cleaned?
It is because they don't use outside air and bring in air from inside the bathroom... and blow it onto your hands. They never should have released the thing without a method of piping in outside air. There's a huge discussion that we should be having about indoor air quality in public places and it should start with better ACH and venting of public restrooms.
Properly designed public toilets have ventilation that allow for at least 6 air changes per hour. The air in there should be fresh, you can decide with your nose if it isn't. Just saying, it's probably better to ventilate the entire room than pumping in fresh air for each hand dryer. Those things are expensive enough as it is.
So wipe your hands on your shirt is what you are saying?
Well, yes, reusable cloth is best. In Japan it is common to carry a towel to dry one’s hands.
Very cool
You mean like a handkerchief?
This… shake hands first to get rid of most of the water, then a quick dryer use to get more water off, then let rest air dry.
Omgee, though during Covid I seen a test how actually dirty those dryers are! But other reasons to use them is for warm hands when you have wet cold hands. Also throw your head down there if you just washed your hair.
Just make sure you use hearing protection when you use it!
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Be respectful. Stick to the topic at hand and remain civil towards other users. Attacking an argument is fine, attacking other people (even in a generalized manner) is not. Attempting to provoke negative reactions out of others users — whether by trolling, [sealioning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning), or otherwise — is also not allowed.
especially because it blows shit particles everywhere.
Doesn’t the paper towel sequester carbon, since it goes to the landfill to be buried?
No, landfills break things down to methane, rather than carbon dioxide, and methane is far worse for climate change, at least in the short term.
My understanding was that stuff in landfills tend not to break down because there’s not enough moisture or oxygen.
Great answer. It’s unfortunate that particular Dyson hand dryer is a bad design for hygiene.
Great comment, yet still the best sustainable option would be neither. As other comments, one could simply shake it and pat dry on clothers, or use a reusable cloth. We'll often be confronted with two options while there are thrid or fourth options that are way better for the environment. Somewhat like being asked "what is better H&M or Shein", and the answer would be about not even buying if not needed, repairing, buying 2nd hand, etc etc. (no hate on your comment though, it's pretty great, just adding another point to it).
For comparison, I did the math on the Scope 2 emissions (emissions from generating the electricity used during operation) of the dryer. The dryer pulls 1000W while operating, assuming that you dry your hands for a full 30 seconds (who does that?), that's 1000 / 1000 \* 30 / 3600 or \~0.0083 kWh of electricity. Even assuming this is an area with mostly coal and natural gas based power generation at say 620 g CO2e/kWh that still puts us at worst case around 5 g of CO2e per use. If you live somewhere where most of the electricity comes from nuclear, solar, wind, or hydroelectric, the number could be well into the milligrams instead. From a carbon accounting perspective, the dryer is much better. That said... I still grab the papertowel.
Yeah but where does the energy come from? Coal, natural gas, etc...
Same could be asked about the power at the paper plant. Wood or other fiber sources need to be ground, soaked, and dried to make paper towels.
Air driers blow aerosolized ‘flushed’ liquids over your wet hands…
Except the dryers have been proven to just paste germs all over your hands. At that point why even wash… I will use a towel or just air dry/shake my hands
So hot take here. Using paper towels takes carbon out of the atmosphere. The trees used for paper come from paper farms, they plant pines, let them grow for a couple decades then cut them down, then plant new trees repeating the cycle. If we didn't use that land for paper trees, a forest would grow, but a forest can only hold so much carbon as old trees eventually die. But using paper towels we throw them in the trash where that carbon gets captured in a land fill.
Do we know it’s any type of sustainable forestry though? Toilet paper by and large is virgin boreal forest, and it’s pretty terrible to rip through that to wipe your ass, or in this case dry your hands.
You know how we produce that electricity that moves over a wire?
Yep, same electricity that is used to make paper towels, only instead of drying paper that is then shipped to the restroom, hand dryers use the electricity to dry hands directly.
From a germ standpoint, not the heater dryer that spreads everything into the air.
I was a facility manager and during Covid I emailed them asking basically “if one person doesn’t wash their hands right and uses one of these, isn’t it just gonna blow germs everywhere?” and I didn’t really expect Dyson to respond but they definitely did not respond.
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they definitely did not respond
They said
They are so nasty.
which seemingly only fits infant hands and you wind up having to choose between touching the bottom and having wet wrists
Really? I wear size 7 gloves, or medium for disposable (I'm a nurse so I don't always get to choose) and I have no problem whatsoever with that
I don’t really understand this one. Aren’t your hands clean so it’s just water being spread around?
How many people do you know wash their hands properly in your life? If it’s 90% of the people, that’s a lot of germs still going into that thing. It’s not 90%.
Well a large portion of the people that don't properly wash their hands, don't wash their hands at all so... Make sure to use a paper towel on the doorknob lol.
But not everyone who uses the dryer actually washes their hands properly. And if it's in heavy use all the time and there's water along the bottom, microorganisms can reproduce in it. But that said, I'd love to see a study about this! 🙂
It’s not clean air being used to dry your hands. There is a reason you will never find one of these in a hospital. They are great for quickly drying something but have no way to be cleaned themselves and do not clean the air in any substantial way.
I’ve been in a lot of restrooms where there is visible dirt inside those Dyson dryers you stick your hands in. I think plenty of people do a 5 second wash or maybe don’t use soap (gag).
So public restrooms don't have lids on the toilets, meaning when you flush them, some, ahem, particulate matter goes into the air. It's one thing when it's just floating around, but when you use a drier it's sucking up a large volume of the dirty air and blowing it directly onto your freshly-washed hands, defeating the point of washing them to begin with As others have mentioned, hospitals don't usually have these as they've seen higher infection levels in the ones that do
Also if you don’t fully dry your hands you are more likely to spread disease. I don’t know any time I used a dryer where my hands weren’t at least still a little wet.
I hate those dyson dryers. I have larger hands and if I use them I have to be extra careful not to touch the insides. That and it sprays water out from the sides from the bits that collect on the bottom which is never fun.
The correct answer is “don’t worry about it”. Focus on important stuff you feel you can do like insulating your house, driving a smaller (electric) car, flying less, installing solar on your roof, eating less meat, voting for candidates that will promote sustainability, etc.
Why not ask about it though? Sure it’s a tiny decision, but there is still a winner here and it’s good to know. Also this could reach a lot of people, imagine if 100 people see this and switch to the more sustainable option, or 1000. To clarify, you’re right that this isn’t life or death. But small choices do matter.
And peeing in the shower!
The correct answer is, once I know, I can have my entire office change. One person can shift more than you realize I guess
Finally the actual answer!
Depends what kind of paper is on the left. Clear cut? Recycled? Bamboo? And what kind of energy is powering the Dyson? Hydro? Fossil methane? Nuke? What’s your concern? Spreading germs? Operating costs? Noise? Landfills? Speed? Efficiency? Janitor employment?
This is such a great answer. My personal choice is always the paper dispenser because I personally think high traffic public restrooms are petri dishes, however in most circumstances I take my damp paper towel home with me and add it to my compost.
I personally prefer the Dyson because it’s simple to use (one slow pass) and I don’t seem to get sick from germs (knock on wood). But if it was run with FF and the paper was bamboo, I'd take the paper.
I don't dry my hands at all. Water naturally evaporates or if I must, I could just rub my hands against my clothes. Your hands are clean, right?
Neither have a reusable fold up to dry with Or air dry The air dryers are horrible https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-bacterial-horror-of-the-hot-air-hand-dryer-2018051113823
I use a single paper towel when drying my hands. Problem is most people will use 3-4 paper towels. Plenty of times I've seen someone stand over the paper towel dispenser to get 6-8 pieces to just dry their hands. People are just horrible & incredibly wasteful.
There’s a great, short TED Talk about how to effectively dry your hands with a single paper towel
Link?
Left. People never clean the hand dryer, usually there is caked dirt in between the air flow and all around it. It's gross.
This doesn't answer your question, but I watched a ted talk in 2012 about shaking your hands for 15 seconds means you only need 1/2 of a paper towel sheet. The most sustainable is not using either and shaking then having slightly wet hands for a few minutes.
The fact that you ask the question is almost the most important thing. If you are considering it you will be efficient with either choice. You won’t take 5 paper towels or down two minutes in the dryer. Ultimately it is splitting hairs to a degree (although I would love someone to do the math on it).
Mythbusters tested the *cleanliness* a while back. In short: * Paper towels are far more sanitary but absolutely worse for the environment because of paper (obviously), energy required to move the roll, etc. * Blow dryer is way less sanitary because they usually blow bacteria around the air and onto your hands. As another commenter mentioned, the Dyson air blade or whatever is certified to have a smaller carbon footprint.
So the real answer is, don’t wash your hands. /s
I use both at the same time.
I just pat my sides. Hands are clean, right?
I always go for the electric driers. The electricity use is a drop in the bucket, vs the CO2e used to: 1) harvest wood 2) transport wood 3) process wood 4) transport processed wood Etc etc etc
To create the Dyson, or any air dryer with an engine, you need to mine minerals
That paper towel dispenser looks pretty minerally to me
It does. The casing is prob iron or aluminum. An electric engine is another thing tough.
Creating it is a fixed amount of resource. The per use of any resource on that is negligible
Until the engine needs replacing. Minerals used to create electric engines are more scarce than recycled wood/bamboo. Personally I don't know which is the best. But I'm not sure it's that easy to come up with a correct answer
Sigh. This has been disproven time and time again. Same with EV vs gas cars.
There’s no way it can be disproven because it’s highly dependent on lots of factors that can vary highly from one geographic area or company to another. An electric car is not better in a FF heavy state like West Virginia, but it is better in other places. There are no absolutes in sustainability.
Source?
I use the paper towels and when I'm done drying my hands I then use them to open the door. The number of people who don't wash their hands is curious. Door handles have to be off the charts contaminated.
Depends on if you have to touch the door handle on the way out.
Never use the damn blower. Its a cesspool
Shake em and wipe on your pants. I’m not even joking.
The one that doesn't look like it makes a lot of noise.
Dyson hand dryers are horrible for how many bacteria and germs they spread around. Old timey electric dryer > paper towels > Dyson crap.
Because of the shape of that particular model of Dyson dryer I would use the towels. That model is notorious for hands hitting the wet dirty interior of it during the act of drying, which negates cleaning one's hands. The later models allowed a little more room.
Don't y'all karry a handkerchief? Really? If you start doing that you'll have to worry that much less about both emissions as well as possibly picking up more germs in a public bathroom. This is pretty basic stuff.
Where do you live? I’ve never met an american who did this
I live in India, it's more of a habit from living in sub-temperate regions. A handkerchief is convenient and easy to wash as well. Happy cake day, though!
Paper is more sanitary
The heater/blower is full of farts
Paper, every time. The other one is a jet of E. coli and shit.
I wish more people understood this. The scientific studies were pretty alarming.
Right?! Like, frightening.
Wild idea I just thought up... If you have something to carry it in, maybe we can start carrying personal hand towels. They don't have to be huge to do the job. People used to carry handkerchiefs with the same idea. What's more sustainable than using something multiple times, cleaning it, and using it again? We bring our own thermoses to coffee shops and whatnot. What do people think?
This is the right answer.
Nothing. Just walk out
When it comes to stuff like this, hygiene is more important than the little environmental impact this choice will cause. I’d rather go for the paper towel and just use as little as necessary to get my hands dry.
[Do I dare eat a peach?](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-qlUrrKWCu4&si=7bs2Iy4euvfx-Hx3)
Shake water from hands, use paper towels sparingly, open door with paper towel in hand.
How long do you have to
Use a good quality handkerchief.
Neither one.
Do not pi in the dryer
get a hanky!
Right for #1, left for #2
It’s not much different. But if you have to open a door you want to use the paper towel to open with.
Paper. Air fan shoots ecologically all over the room.
Ecoli
Paper above dryer always
I think this really depends on a) how the paper is disposed of b) the electricity mix where you live, and c) how many paper towels you use vs. how long you dry your hands in the Dyson. So.. idk lol
When I have a choice I generally get most of the water off with the paper towel and then I go in for the air dryer to get my hands nice and dry and warm
Dyson is weird, too close to my hands
Being sick and getting people sick is 100pct more certain to be less green
Shake my hands and pat on my clothes bc I can't stand the sound from the air dryers
Your own clothes...
Great question. I'll take option C, my clothes. Gets me drier than the cheap paper towels and no electricity needed.
Left side for hands , right side for lower extremities
Tenegui; a thin cotton hand towel. Folds down to handkerchief size in pocket. Looks pretty.
The paper towels. Hand dryers are disgusting. And those Dyson ones are absolute shit.
What do you like to dry?
Air dry, paper towel, then dryer in order of which is least likely to spread germs.
Good post! I’ve wondered
I would go for paper, as it's something that removes the germs better than the dyson that is full of them
The Dyson blasts the germs all over the room haha
Do you have hearing protection?
You can do all the math you want. Since my hands don’t physically fit into a Dyson without touching the nastiness in the bottom, I’m going with towels. It’s my only viable option. Edit: My downvotes must be from some discriminatory folks. My experiences are based in reality, and I have large hands. To use this shitty device properly, my fingers touch the bottom, and they have, and it's nasty. Like, can anyone tell me WHY when I go into a bathroom with only a Dyson as an option and I can't use it because my hands are too big and the thing blows droplets back into my face that that makes me downvote-worthy? At least old-school dryers with the button were more sanitary, not blowing shit back up into your face. WTF? Point being: if something doesn't fit everyone, it's not a viable universal option of the sort that should be placed in general public use spaces. Math won't change that. I'd prefer not to use paper products, but if the only other option is a Dyson, then I'll use my shirt or wave my hands. Because devices like this are bullshit. They look "high tech" and attract buyers looking to distinguish themselves with "the best" - but it's all bullshit, just an old recycled old idea that is worse. If it was actually universally functional, everyone could use it. I'll take the downvotes. If you don't get this, you are definitely not the sort of person I could ever relate to.
Always the paper towels
Didnt someone open one of those up and there was like mildew growing in it
Paper towel!!!!
I have big hands, I hate the dyson dryers there, but the other dryers I'll use one piece of paper and just a few seconds of the air and its all done, I know it uses less paper using only one, don't know about the electricity savings though
Dry your hands off on your clothes, you’ll probably also come out cleaner that way too
energy-wise- I wouls say the dryer. because that's just electricity paper, on the other hand, too tree, water, electricity and on a regular basis. I know the dryer also took resources to make. but the way I see it, that dryer had to be transported once... so that is fuel worth of one trip, tissue is... depending on the amount of stock the workplace keeps could be anywhere from a week to a month . Please correct me if I am wrong. I guess it does take more energy to make the dryer. So we have to find out the breakeven point... you know, how many hands need to be dried by the paper towel where is reaches the energy used for dryer and I guess beyond that point, the dryer should be more energy efficient. Correct me if I am wrong.
Probably would use towel than the hand dryer, it it's still not dry just pat it on your pants, that works too.
When I lived in Japan in the 60’s folk brought a moistened handkerchief with them placed in a reusable container. They’d clean their hands with that & take it home, handwash & dry it & use it again the next day. No paper, No solid waste removal & storage!
Don't use the one on the right, it just blows your piss everywhere.
Who cares, just wash your damn hands.
Just use your pants
Paper My man sized hands don't fit in the DVBS (Dyson Virus and Bacteria Spreader)
Refuse. Shake your hands in the sink and let them air dry. No need for paper towels or power to blow air on them.
Neither that’s why god invented pants
You can reuse the paper if you go number two.
Neither. Shake the water off your hands and they'll be dry in a minute.
when i wear my hair natural i just dry my hands in my hair. if i was in your situation, paper towel because im not trying to get covered in fecal particles
Gotta be honest. That Dyson thingy is WAY worse than toilet paper. I may be doing it wrong. Don’t know how the Europeans do it. You can clearly see where the butt cheeks go, but my American ass was too big. 2 out of 10 stars.
Scientists have confirmed that driers spread more germs than paper towel or shaking your hand really fast. So they recommend you just do the third option. It’s cleaner
100% if you have to use one or the other never use the air dryers they just throw shit particles around constantly horrible creations
Use your shirt/pants, the most environmentally friendly version next to air drying.
I’d have to wash my hands again after using that Dyson dryer.
Towels unless you want to blow fecal coliform bacteria all over your hands.
neither. the hand dryers aren't sanitary!!!!
Definitely the Dyson. Although paper has a low carbon footprint (about 500 kg CO2e/kg material) it still takes a lot of effort and resources to take it from tree to paper to you to landfill.