Air Dryers Blow: 3 Reasons To Switch To Paper Towels In Your Business’s Bathroom

It’s a battle that has been raging since the beginning of time. Or… well… it’s a battle that’s been raging since 1948 when air hand dryers were actually invented. But, come on. 1948 might as well be the beginning of time, right? It was a while ago. PJP wasn’t even founded until 1963 and we’ve been around forever.

Anyway, that battle I’m referring to is, of course Paper Towels vs. Air Dryers in public bathrooms. Which is better? Well, here at PJP we are firmly on the side of paper towels, and after reading this blog post we’re pretty confident you will be too.

So, without further ado, here are three reasons you should switch to paper towels in your bathroom.

1) Paper Towels are much, much more sanitary.

If the internet didn’t go quite so crazy over lists, we would have written this entire blog about how unsanitary air hand dryers are. But you guys go absolutely crazy for lists, so we’re going to appease the masses. But yeah, air hand dryers are just gross.

Did you know that when you use an air hand dryers it will actually cause a 194% percent increase in the bacteria on your fingers?

Let’s put that into perspective for you: You know the guy or girl in your office who always gives 100%? Since that’s literally the maximum anyone can give, everyone knows what a great worker he or she is, right? Well air hand dryers are like that, except they do the opposite of what they’re supposed to do and they tacked another 94% effort just to be jerks.

The whole purpose of washing your hands after using the bathroom is to get rid of the bacteria, and here comes an air dryer to put all the bacteria you just removed right back where it came from. They’re so bad it’s almost as though you hand never washed your hands in the first place, and we all know how disgusting that idea is.

What’s worse is that the air dryers actually blow the bacteria around, spreading them out up to a foot around the dryer. The Jet Air dryers are even worse at this; they spread out the germs as far as 6 feet away.

In 2012 the Mayo Foundation for Medical Research actually said “From a hygiene point of view, paper towels are superior to electric air dryers.” Or, to put it in a funnier way, Ellen DeGeneres said, “You dip your hands into it [Air blades] and try not to touch the sides. It’s like a game of ‘operation’ but instead of a buzzer, you catch influenza.” They even did a Mythbustersepisode about it.

2) Time is Money, and Paper Towels Save Time

This may seem like a minor issue, but let’s be honest here. Drying your hands with an air dryer takes a long time, and in the fast-paced modern business environment, your time is, very, very important. More importantly, so is your employee’s time. One study showed that using a paper towel to dry your hands after washing them only took about 10 seconds. However, using an air dryer takes about 47 seconds. 37 seconds of time saving may not seem like a lot, but it can be when you spread it out over an entire workforce. If you have 100 employees that 37 seconds can add up to a staggering amount of time and money. Let’s do the math:

Over the course of 1 year, if your employees wash their hands an average of 5 times a day, and work 250 days per year that 37 seconds adds up to 1285 labor hours, which is almost enough to hire a new part time employee. If your employees make an average of $20 an hour, that 37 seconds adds up to $25,695 a year. That’s an awful lot of cash wasted on a method of hand drying that’s just going to spread germs anyway, don’t you think?

3) Worried about the Environment? Don’t be, you have options.

Let’s talk about the climate change shaped elephant in the room: paper towels can create a lot of waste, and waste is bad for the environment. Air dryers reduce that waste, and are therefore better for the environment.

Well… you’re not wrong about that, exactly. But you also don’t have to sacrifice your employees health by exposing them to more bacteria in order to be environmentally friendly. At PJP, we’re always interested in offering you the best solutions to your business needs, but we also have a commitment to the environment. So, luckily, PJP partners with wonderful companies like Cascades Tissue Group, which is known for its strong environmental practices. Cascades offers a complete range products that are made from recycled fibers and are compostable and biodegradable.

So, while it is true that electric air dryers produce less waste, it is possible to offer hand towels in your bathrooms without damaging the environment.

If you want to know more about Cascades Tissue Group, you can find out more here.

If you want to purchase some Cascades products for your business, just call your PJP sales rep!