The great debate: Hand Dryers vs Paper Towels
Bacteria are more easily spread when your hands are wet, so if you’re a shaker and don’t dry your hands properly, you may as well not have bothered washing your hands.
Karen Clark, a microbiologist at Dyson, says: “Studies show that wet hands transfer 1,000 times more bacteria from one surface to another.” The giants of the hand-drying world, dryer-makers Dyson and Kimberly-Clark, have been battling it out to convince us about their hygiene and planet-friendly credentials.
Kimberly-Clark published research showing jet air dryers increase bacteria on the hands. Although they could not explain why this would be the case, they believed it was because hands were left wetter, which meant they were more likely to pick up other bacteria in the environment.
According to their research, paper towels were the most effective way of drying hands.