Research has suggested there is no better method, as there are advantages to the usage of both hand dryers and paper towels.,”There has always been the age-old question of which is the better choice, whether it be for the environment, or simply personal preference. However, is there a legitimate reason to choose one or the other?

Research has suggested there is no better method, as there are advantages to the usage of both hand dryers and paper towels. There exist arguments for both, some that even contradict each other, so it is almost impossible to prove which is the better choice.

According to the Web site of American Dryer, one of the premiere hand dryer companies in the nation, warm-air hand dryers are the most sanitary method of hand drying. Also, hand dryers are maintenance free.

There is no need to deal with the mess of paper towels, and one never has to worry about whether or not the paper towel dispenser is empty. As well as being sanitary and maintenance-free, hand dryers are also environmentally friendly. Again, according to the American Dryer Web site, "paper towels can not be recycled, consume precious resources and use excessive landfill space." This is backed up with the fact that 20,000 gallons of water are polluted and 17 trees are consumed to make one ton of paper towels.

However, paper towels have advantages as well. According to EnergyIdeas.org, paper towels are economically superior to hand dryers. The Web site states that "each dryer would require a 20-amp circuit, with the labor and materials estimated at $500." This is in addition to the cost of the dryers.

They also estimate the cost of operation and maintenance as about $150 per dryer per year. They calculated the cost of operating and maintaining 32 hand dryers for a year as $5,000, while the annual cost of using paper towels is $4,900. A side benefit to using paper towels is that they will wipe the dirt off people's hands after washing.

Even at Marquette there seems to be somewhat of a battle between hand dryers and paper towels. For example, in McCormick the bathrooms have hand dryers while in Cobeen there are paper towels. So which hand drying option really is the better choice? Well, it all depends on one's preference.

Knowing that both of them are good options, there is no better decision, so if one is worried about saving the environment or even just worried about which will make their hands cleaner, both are a good choice.

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