For around 30 years, Hudson High School has had electric hand dryers in every one of their bathrooms. These electric hand dryers are made by the company Extreme Air. Although Extreme Air and other electric hand dryers are healthy for the environment, it has been proven that they are not healthy for humans.
According to a Harvard Health article, there was a 2018 study conducted to test and determine if hand dryers in public bathrooms could be dispensing bacteria onto people’s hands.
For the first test, researchers exposed petri dishes to the air in a bathroom for two minutes. It was found that the petri dishes only grew one colony of bacteria, or none at all.
However, the second test exposed petri dishes to hot air from an electric hand dryer in the bathroom for 30 seconds. When the researchers brought the dishes back to their labs, a shocking discovery was made; there were up to 254 colonies of bacteria grown on the petri dish!
Where was this huge amount of bacteria within the hand dryers coming from? Toilets. It turns out that “every time a lidless toilet is flushed, it aerosolizes a fine mist of microbes,” Doctor John Ross, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, wrote in the university’s article.
It is no question that paper towels are much more hygienic than electric dryers. According to A & R Services, they can be stored in a wall mounted towel dispenser that protects them from bacteria. Paper towels are also single-use which makes them great for people wiping their hands quickly and once they are done with it, they just throw the paper towel in the bin which stops the potential spread of bacteria.
Not only are these paper towel dispensers superior at removing bacteria efficiently, but it has been shown that they are also superior at drying hands efficiently.
One study found that warm-air hand dryers can take up to 45 seconds to reduce residual water off of hands. 70 percent of people have also reported that they spend less than 20 seconds using hand dryers. Ultimately, this means that it takes longer for people to dry their hands thoroughly. Without people drying their hands thoroughly, it does not remove bacteria off of their hands efficiently.
Although one paper towel dispenser tends to cost more than one electric hand dryer, an EnMotion paper towel dispenser on Clean Freak costs $47.99. However, one paper towel roll in general costs between $84.99 and $99.99. The reason these paper towels are this much is because they are designed for a long-time use. One paper towel roll can last around one to two months. In this case, six to 12 paper towels (the cost being between $600 to $1200) are needed for a single paper towel dispenser for one year.
According to Home Depot, one Extreme Air electric hand dryer can cost $393.75. These hand dryers can last as long as seven to 10 years while paper towel dispensers can last longer than 12 years.
Even though one EnMotion paper towel dispenser plus paper towel rolls are more expensive than one Extreme Air electric hand dryer, Hudson High School has enough money to buy at least one dispenser for each bathroom in the school.
As claimed by Hudson City Schools, 2022-23 voters approved the $54,125,024 spending plan for last school year. Although the 2023-24 spending plan has not been released yet, it would not be a surprise if the spending plan for Hudson City Schools was around the same budget as last year. If so, Hudson High School would definitely have enough money to replace their electric hand dryers with paper towel dispensers.
That would be 20 paper towel dispensers across the 20 bathrooms within the school (eight girls bathrooms including two girls locker rooms with bathrooms for both and eight boys bathrooms including two boys locker rooms with bathrooms for both).
The total cost of the paper towel dispensers and the extra paper towels for the dispenser would be around $26,000 to $48,000. This estimated cost also depends on what type of brand of paper towel dispensers Hudson High School would want to buy.
As said previously, it would be a bit pricey to switch out the electric hand dryers with paper towel dispensers. However, it would be totally worth the price because paper towels are just way more efficient compared to electric hand dryers at drying hands, removing bacteria and causing less contamination from the washroom environment.
