Paper Towels vs. Air Dryers to Get Hands Dry

Though proper hand washing is critical to maintaining health and hygiene, proper hand drying is equally important. It’s crucial to dry hands thoroughly to prevent the spread of germs, and people generally have two options to accomplish that task: paper towels and hot air dryers. You may think it doesn’t matter which of these methods someone uses as long as it gets the job done.

While the jury is still out, there are pros and cons to both these hand-drying methods. From how well they dry hands and stop the spread of germs to their environmental impact and long-term costs, choosing paper towels or air dryers for your business and drying your hands comes down to more than a personal preference.

The Science of Germs

Proper handwashing helps prevent the spread of germs. Using warm water and soap while rubbing your hands together for 20 seconds, then rinsing the soap off under running water helps get rid of contaminants. However, these steps are not enough to stop germs from spreading from your hands.

You also need to dry your hands as thoroughly as possible. Why? Wet hands spread germs! While washing with soap and rinsing takes care of a lot, drying your hands takes care of the rest.

That’s not to say that dry hands don’t spread germs — they do, but that’s why you wash and dry them.

The Hand-Drying Debate

Since washing and drying your hands plays a significant role in keeping people safe and healthy and preventing the spread of disease, you might wonder if using paper towels versus hand dryers to dry your hands makes a difference in hand hygiene or if it matters at all.

In 2012, science tried to settle the debate. Scientists looked at studies that measured whether paper towels or hand dryers were the superior method for drying hands. Between 1970 and 2011, 12 studies examined the issue, and the review found little agreement that using one method over the other was better at drying hands. However, the review did find that most of the studies suggest that paper towels are more effective at removing bacteria and are less likely to contaminate the surrounding environment. 

During the pandemic, researchers at the University of Arizona conducted a larger review. They looked at over 300 papers and studies that compared paper towels to air hand dryers and came to a similar conclusion. Based on the data, these researchers concluded that neither method was superior to the other.

So, if neither method is more effective at drying hands, how does each method work?

How Do Hand Dryers Work?

Hand dryers, or hot air dryers, create hot air and blow it onto your hands to evaporate the water.

When you turn a hand dryer on, either by pressing a button or waving your hands under the automatic sensor, the machine’s heating element starts converting electrical energy to heat. Some hand dryers use wire coils, while others use a ceramic element. While both heating elements accomplish the same goal, wire coils heat more quickly than ceramics but are less energy efficient.

Once the hand dryer is triggered, a fan inside the machine sucks air in, running it through the heating element, then blowing it on your hands to evaporate the water.

Blade or jet dryers have a similar hand drying process to a hand dryer in that jet dyers use high-speed jets to blow water off your hands but don’t use heat to evaporate the water. When you turn a jet dryer on, it sucks air in, but instead of heating the air, a blade air dryer blows the air onto your wet hands at a high velocity to essentially “scrape” water off your hands.

One of the chief complaints about hand dyers is that they can blow germs around, contaminating the air and other surfaces. To reduce the chances of this happening, some warm air dryers and blade dryers have a filtration system, like a HEPA filter, to keep germs from spreading, but not all do.

Are Paper Towels the Better Choice?

Air hand dryers and jet air dryers can potentially blow germs back into the air and onto clean surfaces, defeating the purpose of washing your hands. However, paper towels don’t blow air around the bathroom, and when you consider that manual paper towel dispensers won’t break down and that more than one person can use paper towels at a time, you may think that paper towels are the way to go.

While paper towels have some advantages over air hand dryers when it comes to hygiene, the environmental impact may have you thinking twice about using them.

A paper towel is a single-use item. But most people don’t use a single paper towel when they dry their hands. They probably use a few and when you start multiplying that by how many people wash their hands and how many times a day they wash them, that creates a lot of waste.

Another thing to consider is that paper towel dispensers have to be filled and refilled regularly. That means buying paper towels, which means producing and shipping them, increasing the carbon footprint paper towels have on the environment. 

Some paper towels are compostable, but not all are, and compostable paper towels have to be made from virgin materials, meaning trees. While hand dryers use electricity, we use approximately 270 million trees a year just to make paper towels, which has a huge environmental impact.

Another problem with paper towels is that if the dispenser runs out, people may resort to wiping their hands on their pants, which isn’t hygienic at all, or skip drying their hands, which defeats the whole purpose of hand washing. A pile of extra towels on the counter won’t necessarily be hygienic because they haven’t been sitting in a covered dispenser.

Pros and Cons of Hand Drying Methods

Given all of the pros and cons of hand dryers and paper towels, you may be confused. To help you figure out whether paper towels vs hand dryers is right for your business, we’ve compared the pros and cons of paper towels versus hand dryers.

The Best Hand Drying Method

Ultimately, the best hand-drying method is the one that people use consistently and gets their hands as dry as possible. However, one additional con of hand dryers versus paper towels is that hand dryers require electricity to operate. While electric hand dryers are generally a more sustainable solution than paper towels, the reality is not every place you need a hand washing sink has an electrical hookup. In that case, paper towels are the way to go, and Ozark River Manufacturing is here to help.

We understand the importance of washing and drying hands to ensure your business or event meets your state’s hand-washing sink regulations and local health code standards. All of our portable sinks are designed to meet health code standards across various industries, including:

• Bars
• Beauty, Day Spas, & Wellness
• Commercial
• Construction & Job Sites
• Daycare
• Classrooms
• Events, Concerts, & Weddings
• Farms & Barns
• Restaurants & Food Service
• Garages & Workshops
• Healthcare & Clinics
• Patio & Home Use
• Retail Stores
• Science Labs
• Tattoo Shops

Our portable sinks are easy to maintain and repair, providing convenience and peace of mind. And several of our portable sink models come with a built-in paper towel dispenser. Contact us today to learn more about our portable sinks and how they can help you ensure your business is compliant.