Hand Towels or Hand Dryers? Which is more Environmental? Which is more Economical?

Public toilets are still popularly using hand towels due to the assumed fact that hand dryers are found to be expensive due to energy. Not only that, hand dryers have been found to be not as effective in drying hands, and worse yet, maintenance cost is quite high especially for the lower end hand dryers.

While the above all sound logical, many points with regards to environmental concerns, aside from economic concerns, have not been addressed. Facility owners and managers simply do not have data on how much does it truly cost to use hand towels and hand dryers. The lack of information definitely poses a risky and flawed decision.

According to Manhattan Green Solutions on their research, the cost of hand towels per piece is Php 0.22 and that 2 hand towels are typically taken from the dispenser to dry hands. More importantly, the environmental impact of hand towels is very high, given that trees have to be cut, which encourages deforestation.

Regular hand dryers are better in terms of cost at Php 0.27 per use, but the annual maintenance cost of replacing the button or the heating coil makes this both an economic and environmental nightmare. Worse, regular hand dryers are not perfect in drying hands, causing users to be either frustrated, or choose to get hand towels after to dry hands.

While this is a major quagmire that has been faced by facility owners, new technologies have made hand dryers more efficient. New Eco Friendly Hand dryers have been developed with some of the most amazing results.

First and foremost, Eco Friendly hand dryers like Veltia only consume Php 0.06 per use of energy, the lowest of its class, and definitely the most economical compared to tissue and regular hand dryers.

The use of high power wind at the speed of a hurricane "sweeps" water off the hands rather than trying to evaporating it, making it substantially more effective in drying hands, resulting to satisfied customers who will not need the use of hand towels.

Another interesting feature which is found in many proper hand dryers is the touch free system. The removal of parts to be touched or operated on by users mean substantially lesser maintenance cost. In fact, maintenance cost is close to zero for the first 5 years.

The resulting analysis, coupled with time saving of 80%, makes new eco friendly hand dryers more beneficial. While these hand dryers might have a higher start up cost, Return on Investment is usually less than 2 years.

In pursuit of going green, it is usually found that there is a large economic benefit in upgrading to a newer technology since it uses lesser resources over its lifespan. It does indeed pay to go green.