We all can make environmental decisions when drying hands
A study made by Cleaning Institute claims that most of us wash and dry hands ten or more times a day, for example whenever visiting the washroom or preparing meals. With a population of over 7.5 billion on this earth, you can just imagine how many drying times it means per day. All this has an impact on the environment.
We all can make responsible decisions to save natural resources, even with the smallest things daily. Like choosing how you wish to dry your hands after washing. At the same time, you can choose the most hygienical way of drying hands. You have a couple of options on how to do it: with a cotton towel, paper or with air dryer. Already the choice you make here has a key role in saving the planet.
And there’s even proof for that. The Textile Service Trade Association (WIRTEX)* confirms that cotton towel rolls produce 95% less waste than paper towels, require 48% less energy, and have an up to 29% lower global warming potential when compared to virgin paper. So, small things and daily choices really matter.
The power of the circular economy
Did you ever stop to think that cotton towel rolls are a part of circular economy? By choosing to use cotton towel rolls you take part in the circular economy, meaning that you help produce less waste and reduce your global warming potential right away.
Cotton towel rolls are reusable as one roll can be washed over 100 times. They produce up to 95 % less waste than throwaway culture counterparts, like paper towels, claims the study of WIRTEX. So, every time you use a public washroom, you can choose to make an environmentally friendly action.
The usual amount of paper a person uses when drying hands is two papers and after drying, this paper is treated as waste. When you choose cotton towels it means, that there won’t be any waste coming as you can reuse them again and again. One cotton towel roll provides at least 11.000 hand dryings during its lifetime. This means that one cotton towel roll can save up to 220 kilos of waste. And this is only counted with one roll but if you think with a bigger scale, together we are saving the planet from paper waste. By choosing cotton towels you can reduce your impact on forests, cut energy use and climate change emissions, limit water usage, air, and other pollutions and produce less waste. Many good points that all have a positive impact on the planet and the climate.
We are not only fighting against the disposable culture but also against bacteria which are affecting our health and can even burst into a global epidemic in the worst-case scenario. Cotton towel rolls aren’t just the most environmentally friendly option, they also mean the most hygienically clean hands. Did you know that drying with cotton or paper towel removes 99.9 % of the bacteria on your hands? **
Cotton towel roll gets a new life, the paper goes to waste
Cotton is an excellent material because of its unique characteristics. Even though it may take some effort in producing the cotton towels, the materials can be reused again and again because of the clean, natural fibers. So, once the towel roll cannot be used to dry hands anymore, the material can be recycled into cleaning cloths, insulating material or even paper. By contrast, paper towels must be disposed of with the general waste and cannot be recycled for hygiene reasons.
* The environmentally friendly approach to hand drying. Sustainability study into cotton towels and paper. Wirtex.
** The Comparative study of four drying methods: cotton towels, paper towels, jet air dryer, and warm air dryer – A research report of the Hjelt Institute of Hygiene and Microbiology of the University of Helsinki. Kirsi Laitinen, PhD.
