TOMORROW’S CLEANING MAY 10

A load of hot air or just another paper cut?

TOMORROW’S CLEANING EDITOR, CHARLOTTE TAYLOR, LOOKS INTO THE AGE-OLD DEBATE OF HAND DYERS VS. PAPER TOWELS TO SEE WHO EMERGES VICTORIOUS.

Most of you will have seen our recent coverage of the new Kimberly-Clark Professional ‘Take Control of Poor Hand Drying’ campaign,

in the March issue of Tomorrow’s Cleaning.

The article claimed that: “The use of electric dryers could dramatically increase levels of bacteria on subjects’ hands – by an average of 254% in the case of a warm air dryer. Conversely, using a paper towel reduced the total number of bacteria on hands by an average of 77%. Researchers also found that using electric hand dryers could blow bacteria a significant distance across a washroom – up to 2 metres away in the case of a jet air dryer. Paper towels showed no significant spread of bacteria.”

This was accompanied by a video, which quite clearly included a Dyson Airblade, you can witness this for yourselves now. You can imagine Dyson’s response. The debate has even made its way outside of the industry press into national news, as seen on the Guardian website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/ blog/2010/apr/30/dyson-airblade- kimberly-clark

This debate has been around since the dawn of time, well, at least as far as hand drying is concerned. There are even disputes within each opposing “side”, but for now we will leave fold/ply/design/strength issues to one side.

As well as the general question of “Which form of hand drying works best?” we also have to contend with issues such as sustainability and the spread of bacteria and disease.

The future of our cleaning industry | TOMORROW’S CLEANING | 29

WASHROOM HYGIENE

Two market leaders on either side of the field have their own opinion. Who is right? Well if the truth be known, we can’t say. Many of these scientific tests produce different results and are they truly independent? Moreover, do the public care? Have they been educated? Like most things the choice, can be a simple matter of preference.

Let’s be honest here, some hand dryers can be poor quality; they can feel like a gentle breeze at times, taking several minutes to dry your hands. That is until you just wipe your hands on your trousers (come on, we have all done it!)

Some hand towels can turn into a pulpy mess, leaving you with one option, to grab handfuls of the stuff until you feel suitably dry. Don’t get me started on empty dispensers either, an outcome that again leads us back to the trusty trouser-wiping technique.

Hand towels effectively kill trees, and are not often recycled as they should be.

Hand dryers use electricity, and are all of their parts recycled in the right way?

This being said, both have their positive points. Hand dryers often minimise contact with infected surfaces and some are just fantastic to use. While hand towels are user-friendly and can always be relied upon for optimum dryness.

At the end of the day, from a public perception, is it simply a case of what you prefer? You say “tomayto,” I say “tomarto” right?

I think the important issue here is that we all continue to use innovation and technology to improve our own sector, before comparing products with others. The same can be said of any industry, even the trade press! There is a market for everything after all, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that, at the end of the day it’s the end-user that matters.

Still I expect this “war” will continue for years to come. Everyone loves a debate after all.

I suppose the question is this:

You are in a washroom. You wash your hands at the sink. There is a hand dryer to the left, a paper dispenser to the right. Which would you choose?

While you ponder that thought, let’s see what some of the professionals think... Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70