I have wondered for a while whether hand-dryers or paper towels were the greener way to go, so I did a little reading. This article had a pretty objective study, and is worth a read if you are interested! (In the end, after much deliberation and consideration of things like resource depletion, smog and human toxicity the author opts for hand-dryers.)
UBC doesn't seem to have any air-hand dryers, and all the bathrooms have these giant garbage cans overflowing with paper towels that were used for 10 seconds to dry someone's hands and then tossed. These paper towels not only had to be made (either from recycled or raw materials) but also had to be transported to UBC, and then at the end of the day probably hundreds of garbage bags full leave for the dump!
When I was on exchange in Germany, my friend Yuka from Japan, who was really into sustainability, gave me this pretty little re-usable towel that you can just tuck into your bag and use to dry your hands. A small camping towel, face cloth or small kitchen towel would do too. It dries quickly and is easily tucked away! And, after it's life of many years comes to an end, it will easily decompose unlike the plastic/metal hand dryers or paper towel dispensers.
So, my challenge to myself and to you is to cut down on paper towel use by carrying a re-usable towel ( or a use a hand dryer or better yet drip-dry if you forget your towel!).
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