Paper napkins or hand dryer in public restroom? Which one is more environmental friendly?

Question

I am trying to be as green as possible. Everytime I wash my hands in public restroom, I have a dillema in between choosing paper napkins or hand dryer to dry off the water in my hands. which one is more environmental friendly? Thanks

Answer 1

The electric uses energy and doesn't effectively dry your hands the way you like them dry.  So most times you still use a paper towel anyways.  

The paper is normally recycled paper, bio-gradable and doesn't use energy like the heated electric dryer.  These paper products also  add space into the trash piles and degrade quickly so they ad to the process of breaking down what trash we do throw away that will degrade.

The electric not only adds heat into the environment but it isn't at all efficient.

Answer 2

hand dryer.in public restrooms they put napkins in TRASH not recycle

Answer 3

I've answered this question several times in the past.  As usual, people are missing one REALLY important aspect.

Hands down, paper napkins are the most environmentally friendly.

Why?  Have you ever been in a restroom, and seen a small child with an obviously snotty nose banging on the hand dry button over, and over again, as his mother (or father) ignores him?

I see it all the time.  Children are facinated by that button.  Children are walking petri dishes of contageous germs, especially colds and flu.  

Children (and a not igsignifigant number of adults) are spreading MAJOR cold/flu virus germs via those hand dryers.

So of course if they infect 100 people, and all those people are now home sick, using tissue to blow their nose, and buying cold/flu medication, driving to visit doctors, missing productive days at work, and infecting still other people....well you can see how the hand dryers in the long run actually cause more environmental damage.

Proper way to wash your hands (I worked in the medial field for years):

Turn on water

Use soap

Wash hands & wrists

Rise off soap

Use paper towel to dry

Turn off water with paper towel (now germs on faucet on not back on your hands!)

Use paper towel to exit bathroom if you must touch door handle (if it's a push door, use your elbow)

Dispose of paper towel

That's the only way to escape a bathroom with clean hands.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

(15 years in the medical field too)

Answer 4

napkins go back into the dirt, but they use energy and chemicals to make them, a hand dryer uses energy off the back, I would think the paper napkins would be, unless you're using solar energy.

Answer 5

hand dryer is more effective in your situation...for environmental friendliness...but personally....umm..they take awhile to dry and not only that, they're ANNOYING!!

Answer 6

hand dryer is a lot better in terms of environmental conservation.

The more paper napkins you use, the more trees you kill

Answer 7

Low energy hand dryers...especially the ones that only turn on with motion sensors. Otherwise, it still wastes a bit of electricity if it's on for a minute, when you only need it for a few seconds....

Answer 8

you can get power from solar energy so the power option

Answer 9

yo pants

Answer 10

It is hard to say which is better to use paper napkin or hand dryer. I dare to say that we should refraind from using both if we really think the environment and the earth. We can use handkerchief to dry our hands. So, we have only to bring one with us when going out.

Answer 11

I'd say the paper napkins, being the the towels are recycled already. The air is heated wasting btu's.

Answer 12

I'm not real sure but my personal opinion is that I prefer paper to dryer. The reason, after a person washes their hands they should use a paper towel to turn off the faucets, they also should use the paper towel when grabbing the handle to go out the door. There are so many people in this world who don't bother to wash their hands and just think if you are in a resturant with one of those people and you don't use a towel to open the door...you've just got their nasty germs!! Sometimes I think we need to be smarter about this and drying does not allow for prevention of germs.

Answer 13

Hand dryers.

Paper towels kill trees.

Answer 14

i think dryer

Answer 15

Hand dryers are only more environmentally friendly IF they are run from a renewable electric source.  So there aren't any real eco-friendly sources I'm afraid.   I usually wipe my hands on my trousers lol rather than use a towel or dryer simply because, if our trousers get wet in the rain why not get them wet from washed hands too.