Suggested Redesign

My first suggested redesign is to add a hand sanitizer station next to air hand dryers. This is to minigate the poor sanitization quality of air hand dryers--users can help save the planet by using air hand dryers still, but then they can use a small amount of hand sanitizer to keep their hands clean too. Also, this will give them the option to use hand sanitizer instead of washing their hands, which is supposed to be less good for you but it will help save water.

Joe Smith did a talk at TEDxConcordiaUPortland about optimizing the use of paper towels in hand-drying situations. His suggested technique is simple, yet effective: wash your hands, shake them 12 times into the sink, take ONE paper towel, fold it in half, and use the folded paper towel to dry your hands. He shoes in his talk that this technique works on all kinds of paper towels--from virgin to 100% recycled paper. Why 12 shakes? – Joe explains that it’s thorough enough, and it’s the largest number with only one syllable. Why fold? – Allows for interstitial suspension. This basically means that the water is able to occupy the interstitial space between the fold of the paper. Paired with this technique, I think it would be interesting to create a paper towel dispenser that only allows each user to take one paper towel when drying their hands.