Hand Dryers - Replacing One Form of Pollution with Another?

Do you prefer paper or air? When it comes to drying your hands in a public restroom?

Paper Towels Rule!

I generally prefer paper towels as opposed to blow dryers. I hate the noise of the air dryers and I find that my hands don't really get dry unless I stand there for a long time. While the line-up gets longer behind me. "Oh heck, I'll just dry my hands on my jeans..."

Whereas with paper towels, you can usually grab 2 or 3 at once and then step aside to dry your hands in peace. Except for those automatic paper towel dispensers... where it dispenses a tiny strip and you have to wait and wave your hand in front of the sensor so it will extrude more... and just one more...

Paper Towels Not Eco-Friendly

Yes, I know... paper towels have a HUGE eco-footprint. They come from wood pulp and while many manufacturers are now using recycled paper to make paper towels... still. Plus you have all the garbage generated. I know some bathrooms have two bins - a green one for the paper towels and another one for everything else. Humans being what they are... I don't know how well that works. On top of that, paper towels are expensive to make, to transport and you need someone to refill the dispensers as well. How many times have we stood in front of a paper towel dispenser with dripping hands and... nothing gets spit out. It's either empty, jammed or broken. Argh!

Alright... I admit it... they aren't the greatest from an eco perspective, but they are pretty good from a hygiene perspective. Everyone gets their own little piece of paper towel and can then toss them. Much better than those rotating towel dispensers. Remember them?? Are they even still a thing? Probably not with the pandemic!

Air Dryers Rule!

Enter the air dryer... ta daaahhh!!! They've been around for decades, in some form or another. The ones I remember from the old days had a silver nozzle that could point down to dry your hands or rotate upwards to dry your face. Not sure who would wash their face in a public restroom but... hey, to each their own. These dryers would blow a gentle stream of warm air over your hands and you'd stand there vigorously rubbing your hands together trying to get them dry. They never really worked all that well... at least in my experience. Or maybe it was just me... maybe I didn't know the right technique to use to get dry hands out of the deal!

But in the last decade or so, Dyson has taken hand dryers to a whole new level. Super fast air streams, some in a very thin line (Dyson Air Blade) have left us standing there in awe as our hands are dried in mere seconds. Or so they claim. I admit the Air Blade, where you move your hands up and down vertically, does dry my hands fairly well. Much better, at least, than those traditional air dryers.

If that wasn't enough, the air dryers are also more eco-friendly. They don't use wood pulp, just a bit of electricity. You don't need to refill them every day so they are more likely to be available. Although... they could break down in which case you need a technician to come and fix them.

Air Dryers are Noise Polluters

But here's the thing... they are darn noisy. Like... seriously loud. Most manufacturers claim that their air dryers run at around 100 dB. At that level, you could listen to an air dryer for about 9 minutes before permanent damage to your ear occurs. As a comparison, a rock concert usually runs at 103 dB. And if you are in a workplace, your employer needs to provider hearing protection for anything over 85 dB.

The thing is... as the air dryers get faster... they also get noisier. So those old-fashioned ones with the silver nozzle actually run relatively quietly. 

Those Xlerator ones... are super noisy... as are the Dyson AirBlades. Because... as it turns out... a lot of the hand air dryers actually run much louder than the levels claimed by the manufacturer. How much louder? One study found that a lot of hand air dryers typically run at over 100 dB and one even got as loud as 121 dB (the same as an ambulance siren). At that level, hearing damage occurs in less than 2 minutes.

A lot of children complain that hand air dryers hurt their ears. Maybe we should be listening to them! I'm not a child, but I would say the same thing. I hate using the air dryers because they are soooo noisy. If there is an option between paper towels and air dryers... I choose paper towels every single time. Particularly if I see an Xlerator looming on the wall.

Studies have shown that hearing continues to develop in children and that exposure to excessively loud noises can damage their hearing and set them up for hearing loss later in life. The Envrionmental Protection Agency says that any noise over 85 dB is dangerous to a child's hearing.

Xlerator claims that their dryers run at 70 to 80 dB. Although they admit that when hands are held perpendicular to the air flow and close to the outlet, the noise can jump to 90 dB. Dyson claims that their Airblade runs at 81 to 85 dB. But is this actually true?

A 13 year old student from Alberta, Nora Louise Keegan, decided to put these claims to the test. She conducted a bunch of tests on hand air dryers at various distances from the devices, particularly keeping in mind that children are shorter than adults and that their ears are therefore more likely to be closer to the devices.

What she found was quite stunning... the Dyson Airblade and Xlerator run at over 100 dB, sometimes exceeding 120 dB. That is LOUD! Like ambulance siren loud.

Paper or Air?

So where does that leave us? Paper towels are more hygienic (hospitals use them instead of air dryers) but have a large eco-footprint and cost more to source and maintain.. Air dryers are cheaper, contact-less but are extremely noisy and less hygienic, leaving your hands damp unless you use them properly. It's enough to make my head hurt!

Or opt out entirely... as much as possible... carry your own towelette with you and use that! Which is exactly what I've started doing. I have a little microfibre towellette that I carry around in my office backpack. When I go into a public washroom, I'll pull the towelette out and dry my hands.

Then, if I'm sitting in Starbucks, I'll just hang it off the back and let it air dry for a while. This little towel dries my hands really well and also dries very rapidly. Win-win.

And... I don't need to hurt my ears with the air dryer... nor feel guilty for using the paper towels. Small steps... just small steps.

Resources

National Institute of Health - Noisy Air Dryers and Kids

Paediatrics and Child Health (just the summary) - Children who say hand dryers ‘hurt my ears’ are correct: A real-world study examining the loudness of automated hand dryers in public places

National Library of Medicine (full article) - Children who say hand dryers ‘hurt my ears’ are correct: A real-world study examining the loudness of automated hand dryers in public places

 Hear Smart - Decibels and Damage

 The Guardian - Hand dryers v paper towels: the surprisingly dirty fight for the right to dry your hands

Standford Mag - Paper or Air: Which Method is Greener? 

McGill University - Hand dryers or Paper Towel? That is the question