RJS KOCHHAR 
HOW HYGIENIC ARE PAPER TOWELS?
There is no doubt that washing your hands after using the rest room is imperative. Proper hand washing is the easiest way to reduce infections and viruses. Drying your hands after washing them is also critical to the process. Any excess water that remains on your hands is the perfect environment for recontamination. It makes sense to dry them with the paper towels available in the rest room, but is it really sanitary?
WHY ARE PAPER TOWELS HARMFUL?
Paper towels are absorbent clothes designed to clean and dry. But when you think about it, what else do they absorb? They are in a public rest room. The damp air in these bathrooms is filled with contaminants. Hundreds of people each day use these rooms, transporting virus and cold molecules with them. These towels, performing their job, actively absorb the moisture from the air as well as from your hands. What this creates is an environment for spreading germs.
A hand dryer is your alternative and is perhaps the cleanest option available. Since most of these are motion activated now, you do not even have to touch the device to have it work. The heat from the dryer helps rid your hands of germs as well as dry them well so that you do not pick up new ones.
A hand dryer also reduces cost, protects the environment and creates a cleaner bathroom. How? Paper towels must be refilled often to accommodate use by the patrons. Each time you must refill these towels you are spending money. Additionally, you will spend more on waste can liners and janitorial services. If you must pay for garbage removal you will have increased waste from the additional bags of used hand towels.
EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT:
Regarding the environment, paper towels are made from trees. A reduction of use will lessen the need for harvesting trees. Countless bags of used towels in the land fill can also be eliminated simply by installing a hygienically safe hand dryer. Also, as anyone who has a public rest room, more often than not hand towels end up on the floor instead of the waste can. This creates a nasty appearance for your place of business. Requires your staff to handle discarded towels and also can be a liability should anyone slip and fall.
THE ALTERNATIVE:
The use of hand dryers has many health benefits above and beyond the cleanliness factor. It is a simple piece of equipment that will provide excellent service to you while creating a positive effect on disease control and protection of the environment.
WE WANT TO KNOW YOUR VIEWS:
What’s your choice? Paper towels or hand dryers? Seeing the advantages and disadvantages of both, what do you think is the better option for personal hygiene?
Do let your voice be heard by putting your comments below.
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The above article is a guest post by Arron Brown who writes about personal hygiene at his blog Hygiene Matters.
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