Students’ Opinions on Paper Towel Dispensers vs. Hand-Drying Machines
Hand-drying machine found in a bathroom inside Ricker Hall. The message on the metal plaque explains how hand-drying machines are a more environmentally and economically friendly choice than paper towels. (Bross)
December 20, 2023
Caeden R. Bross, Journalism Club Member
The bathrooms on campus didn’t always have hand-drying machines as the only method of drying your hands. Any student who was enrolled in the 2022-2023 academic year can tell anybody how the bathroom layouts have changed, as they used to contain paper towel dispensers alongside the hand-drying machines, but halfway through the school year - before the Spring - the paper towel dispensers were removed.
Both paper towels and electrical energy accomplish the same goal of removing bacteria from the skin of your body, but their methods differ. Paper towels are physically rubbed on the wet skin where its flexible yet rough surface will remove all bacteria, so that the skin is dry and devoid of harmful microorganisms. Hand-drying machines function automatically, either at the press of a button or activation of a sensor, whereupon the machine whirs to life and electrical energy is emitted as a blast of heat that gradually evaporates the water on the hands.
Now one semester into this change of bathroom structure, students are speaking out on how they feel about it, speaking either in opposition or support to the change. A survey was sent out to all UMF students living on campus, asking about UMF’s choice to remove all the paper towel dispensers and keep the hand drying machines, and whether it was a good or bad choice for UMF.
The survey was sent out on November 20 and was closed on November 30. Over the course of those ten days, 134 students have responded - 5.2% of students approve of the change, and 94.8% of students say that the change was a bad choice for UMF. Of all 99 respondents, 17.9% were freshmen, 29.9% were sophomores, 25.4% were juniors, and 26.9% were seniors. Generally, students who were not on-campus for the Spring 2023 semester appear to be in a minority statistic, while students who were there to experience the transition firsthand were more likely to speak their mind.
A pro a student identified was by removing paper towel dispensers, the university spends less to operate its facilities, which is saving them money and “saving lots of paper.”
Less paper waste means more trees are spared from the manufacturing process turning them into the pulp used to make paper towels. Overall, the hand dryers are a more environmentally friendly alternative to washing hands than paper towels.
Additionally, there is less potential for vandalism. One student explained that during their previous experience living on-campus, paper towels were used to deliberately clog toilets, which would create a situation where facilities would need to be contacted to fix the issue.
The student noted that “as soon as the paper towels were removed… the clogging stopped.”
Another proponent of the change says that it should be up to students to adapt accordingly to the new direction UMF is taking even if they do not agree with it, as it is still a cost-effective move for the university in the long run.
However, several students disagree and request that the paper towels be brought back into the bathrooms. Common complaints included that hand-dryers take an excessive amount of time to dry your hands and generally have an ineffective cleaning process in comparison to paper towels.
It generally takes longer to use hand dryers than it is to use paper towels for evidently no greater benefit, reducing student satisfaction. Hand dryers are not only a waste of time but a waste of electricity, as well. To save time, some students have resorted to wiping their wet hands on their clothes or forgoing the drying process entirely.
“The dryers don’t dry,” one opponent replied.
The noise hand-dryers make is another source of contempt as it’s able to be heard in adjacent rooms. Several students describe the noise as “terrible”, “disruptive” and “unnecessarily loud.”
This is especially difficult for students who are sensitive to loud noises as the sole solution to drying their hands involves a noise that may overwhelm them.
The removal of the paper towels also saw the loss of a valuable resource for students to use, as not only can paper towels be used to clean hands but other surfaces, as well. Students identified absorbing spills and removing hair from drains as two examples of paper towels’ flexibility in the survey, noting how they are forced to use toilet paper as an alternative solution but “toilet paper just doesn’t cut it.”
Another student notes that in classroom settings, this means contacting a member of facilities to resolve the issue, leaving the mess lying about for a longer period of time before it is taken care of.
Most pressingly, though, is the sanitary quality of hand dryers.
“Hand dryers spread germs” was a sentiment shared by several students, some of whom claim that science has proven the inimical effects of hand dryers on physical health.
They say the machine uses the surrounding air for its functions, and that air can contain microscopic particles of bacteria and feces which may make contact with the skin when drying - in fact dirtying the hand again. This essentially nullifies the cleaning process and intended goal of disinfecting the hands.
A consequence of this change is the greater likelihood of diseases and viruses being spread across a college campus - such was the reason hand dryers were deactivated during the COVID pandemic years of 2020-2021 while the paper towels were kept in use. Another student based a project in their BIO class on this issue, swabbing the surfaces of the hand-dryers’ outlets and subsequently finding “several types of bacteria” in their results. Even a staff member spoke out against the change in this survey, showing that it isn’t just students who are upset.
These negative accounts - which call the hand dryers “disgusting,” “nasty,” “unsanitary” and “dirtier than using a paper towel” - appear to contradict the messages inscribed onto the metal plaques about how they minimize the possibilities of disease and can remove bacteria from moist hands more thoroughly than cloth or paper towels.
Some proponents are willing to acknowledge that, while hand dryers may be better for the environment and help to promote UMF’s sustainability goals, they are still quite problematic in other ways. An inefficient drying process, the loud noise made from the machines and the apparent unhygienic quality of the hand dryers may be too great of a detriment to justify the decrease in paper waste.
Proponents say that the removal of the paper towels was a good decision for UMF because it saves the university money and promotes their message of sustainability. Opponents say that it would be worth the extra expenses to give students the option of using paper towels again instead of leaving hand dryers as the only choice. With hand dryers said to create a greater risk of spreading diseases and paper towels meaning more trees get cut down, there are both pros and cons to this debate, but as shown above, the cons appear to outweigh the pros.
