By Cindy Quarters
A lot of variables are involved in making the choice between installing electric hand dryers and using paper towels. While some of these factors are under your control as a business owner, such as the quality of paper towels used or the type of hand dryer you buy, other factors are not, such as the cost of electricity and how many paper towels are used by each visitor. The use of electric hand dryers reduces waste, and the touch-free models currently on the market also help to minimize the spread of germs.
To accurately determine how much it costs your business to use paper towels versus an electric hand dryer, estimate how many times each day the restroom is used. This will depend on the size and nature of your business, but for many medium-size operations 150 to 200 uses per day is a reasonable figure. Also take into consideration additional costs such as trash bags and maintenance, both of which can be difficult to quantify but can add up over time.
The initial cost of a paper towel dispenser is small, typically about $40 to $50, but the ongoing expenses can quickly surpass that amount. The cost of paper towels will vary by brand, size and quality, but an average case of 12 packs of 250 towels costs about $30 in 2012. A restroom that gets a medium amount of usage can expect to use at least one package of paper towels daily, for a total cost of about $75 per month, even without factoring in the extra cost of trash bags and maintenance. The fact that people typically use at least two towels to dry their hands combined with the likelihood of waste when people pull out extra towels and discard them can significantly increase the number of towels used. Towels must also be bagged and removed from the restroom on a regular basis, and any that have landed on the floor must be cleaned up.
A hand dryer costs considerably more than a paper towel dispenser to purchase and install; a small business can purchase a dryer from various sources for about $450 to $500. The cost of operation will depend on the dryer’s efficiency plus the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity in your area. A typical electric hand dryer uses about 0.03 kwh of electricity per use. At an average U.S. cost of $0.0995 per kwh, the cost for using an electric dryer averages out to about $14.58 per month, a savings of more than $60 per month over using paper towels. This means the higher cost of purchasing the electric dryer is repaid within about seven months, making an electric hand dryer a far more economical choice than paper towels.
Business owners can purchase less expensive paper towels to minimize the cost, but it is still a more expensive option than using electric hand dryers. There are also more energy-efficient hand dryers on the market that have a higher initial cost but an operating cost that is about a tenth that of standard hand dryers. These are especially good for situations where the dryers get a lot of usage, as the savings can add up quickly.
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cost-benefit-paper-towels-vs-hand-dryers-41923.html