And it’s better for the environment than paper towels too!
Cost-saving is likely to be top of the agenda for the hospitality industry as pubs, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs make up for lost time post-pandemic.
Leading hand-dryer manufacturing firm, Airdri https://airdri.com, believes that a simple swap could be key to cutting costs – installing eco hand dryers could save venues thousands of pounds annually in energy bills or paper towel refills.
And in terms of environmental impact, it will stop tonnes of wastepaper towels entering landfill each year too.
The brand has created an online cost calculator that shows the comparative saving for hospitality venues switching from paper towels to eco hand dryers.
As an example, here are some of the savings hospitality venues could make based on each paper towel dispenser costing £730 per year (based on 100 washes per day using two paper towels costing 1p per dry):
- A small café with three paper towel dispensers could save £2,190 each year
- A medium sized restaurant with 10 dispensers could save £7,300 annually
- A nightclub with 15 dispensers could save £10,950 every year
- A sports stadium or similar large venue with 300 dispensers could save £219,000 per year
Visit the running costs calculator here: https://airdri.com/running-costs-calculator/
Of course, there’s the environmental impact of paper towels to consider.
Most people don’t realise that paper towels cannot be recycled for hygiene reasons, so every one that is used ends up in landfill.
Visitors to the Airdri website can explore the impact of choosing paper towels as the only hand drying option for their washrooms.
For example:
- A medium sized bar or restaurant using just paper towels would generate a total 1600 kilograms of paper towel waste* each year, the equivalent of 32 cookers.
- A nightclub would use somewhere in the range of 2400kg per year, the equivalent of two Ford Fusion cars.
Visit https://airdri.com/paper-towel-calculator/ to calculate the environmental impact of your hospitality business.
Airdri’s Eco Hand Dryer Range
If the environmental impact of hand dryers is one of the main concerns when deciding between paper towels or hand dryers, Airdri’s eco range might help settle the debate.
The brand’s Eco Range is comprised of three different hand dryers; the Quantum, the Quazar and the Quest, all of which use less than 1,000 watts, the industry minimum for a dryer to be considered “green”.
The Eco Range includes the Quantum hand dryer, which is one of the world’s most energy efficient hand dryers, costing just £7 per year to run. When compared to a regular dryer, it saves 96% on annual power expenditures, indicating not only cheaper operating costs but also a significant reduction in energy use.
Choosing an eco-friendly hand dryer
Here Steve Whittall Group Research and Development Director at Airdri shares tips on choosing an eco hand dryer.
“When looking into eco hand dryers, it’s important to note that there are several factors that contribute to making a hand dryer eco-friendly.”
Exceptional Energy Efficiency
“It takes very little energy to dry one pair of hands. However, in public buildings where washrooms are used on a daily basis for eight, twelve or more hours, these energy usages can mount up to a substantial expense. Therefore, exceptional energy efficiency is paramount to ensuring an ecologically friendly dryer. At Airdri, our bespoke motors help achieve best-in-class energy efficiency, requiring only 200 watts of power to operate.”
Low Running Costs
Steve continued: “Cutting unnecessary expenditure can be an incredibly important factor to consider when installing equipment in hospitality venues so making sure you’re choosing a hand dryer which is low running in terms of costs can help to save you a lot of money in the long run. We’ve taken this into account whilst putting together our eco-friendly range, that’s why our eco models start from just £7 a year to run.”
Environmentally Friendly
“When put against alternative options, such as paper towels, hand dryers generally come up as the eco-friendly choice since they save thousands of paper towels from going to landfill. At the cost, lifespan, and efficiency of the hand dryers in our Eco Range, these hand dryers are the “greenest” options available on the market.”
Long Life Span
Steve ended: “Breakdowns and faulty mechanisms are the last things you want to be dealing with when you’re investing in a hand dryer, therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary repairs and replacements, a long-life span is a top priority for an eco-friendly dryer. Our hand dryer range has a reputation for reliability, the Quantum in our Eco Range was tested to 10,000 hours.”
Size & Design
Airdri’s Eco range is comprised of three models that come in a choice of colours and can personalised or branded if required. The units come in a choice of sizes of unit making them ideal for smaller or accessible washrooms. All models have a seven-year warranty.