Masuk Free Press

Coming back from winter break, students at Masuk High School, students probably expect to see paper towels on the wall in the bathrooms. However, when students use the restroom now, paper towels are no longer available. Now, bathrooms in Masuk have hand dryers for use, replacing the paper towel dispensers. This change has some positive and negative effects on the Masuk community.

The hand dryers are branded with eco, meaning that they are better for the environment. The model used in the bathrooms, Xlerator Eco, uses a high speed jet to dry hands, rather than using heat. This uses less energy than a traditional hand dryer that uses heat. As with all hand dryers, they help the environment by reducing the number of single-use paper towels being thrown in the trash. “I think it’s a much greater environmental change, because we are reducing our carbon footprint,” said Masuk freshman Holden Sorel. “Trees are not being cut down as much, and we are not using as much wood.” 

 “A pro to the hand dryers is that you don’t have to replace them as often. They always run out of paper towels and sometimes people mess with them.” said Masuk senior Aidan Cammarano. “One small con, it does take a little longer to dry your hands. Sometimes even after a little bit of using them, they are still wet, but that’s it. I think having the hand dryers is more of a pro than a con.” 

One common negative association with hand dryers is cleanliness. “I have heard that they are not the best when it comes to being clean,” said Masuk sophomore Ryan O’Shea. “A pro [to removing paper towels] is because people were doing stupid stuff with it, like putting it into sinks and the urinals.” O’Shea also had a drawback to the new hand dryers. “I feel like the blow dryer things never really work.” A study conducted by Redway and Fawdar stated that jet hand dryers and paper towels are equally efficient at the time to dry hands. This claim is supported by The United States National Institute of Health. 

Another disadvantage is that paper towels can also cause a mess when not properly disposed of.  “You see them all thrown around in the bathrooms, everyone throws them on the floor instead of the trashcan,” said Masuk sophomore Michael Leventakos. “It makes the job easier for the janitors, so I guess the air dryers are better.” 

Students also expressed concern with the hand dryers and their ineffectiveness to properly dry students hands. Masuk sophomore Grant Knecht said, “The hand dryers don’t even work half of the time, and even then, they are loud.” Masuk freshman Holden Sorel said, “It is not very powerful, and the sensor is not the greatest. I had to put my hand up right underneath it, and even then, the power is underwhelming.” 

Sorel added, “People can not get them wet, ball them up to throw them at the walls, or to try to clog the toilet, or to clog the sink, or just waste them all.” 

One place where paper towels are a necessity is in a commercial kitchen. Masuk has its own commercial kitchen students can use when taking Culinary Arts, which is one of the places in the building that still has paper towel dispensers in place. Masuk Culinary Arts teacher Amy Bien said, “It’s one thing to be working in a food service environment and need to wash your hands and dry them properly. It’s another thing, like a general public person going to the public bathroom.”

“In a commercial kitchen. Hands must be washed in specific hand washing sinks, and you can only use paper towels. In here, we use cloth towels as much as possible, because of the conservation issue. When I go out, if there’s a hand dryer instead of paper towels, it doesn’t bother me much,” Bien added. “I’m sure that there are some out there that talk about any spread of anything. If there were concerns about a spread of bacteria, that would be an issue.” 

A study conducted by Mayo Clinic found no significant differences in the amount of bacteria spread between the different hand-drying methods. 

Overall, there are many pros and cons to having the hand dryers over the paper towels. The new hand dryers provide a way for students to dry their hands without making a mess, while also being better for the environment. Studies show that the students’ concerns of hand dryers are generally false, aside from noise complaints. Outside of Masuk, businesses may choose to replace paper towels over time, as many businesses are focused on becoming more environmentally sustainable, and eliminating single-use paper towels helps these businesses take a step in the right direction.