“Save Paper Towels” is a project De Anza College is considering to reduce its paper waste by replacing hand dryers with Dyson Airblade, according to chair of DASB senate environmental sustainability committee, Takuto Ueda.

Currently some bathrooms at De Anza are equipped with paper towels and a heated hand dryer.

“General hand dryer and Dyson Airblade dryer are completely different,” said Ueda. “The general hand dryer uses heat to dry our hands, costs more electricity and time. On the other hand, Dyson Airblade only uses strong wind, making it faster to dry hands and less electricity, it is also more hygienic.”

According to the Dyson Airblades website, theirs are the only hand dryers certified as hygienic by Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points, which is under the Food Drug Administration.

“Companies handling food(s) can also use the Dyson Airblade, so to be used in campus is safe enough and it’s proven,” said Ueda.

The website states that Dyson Airblade uses High-efficiency Particulate Air filter, which claims to eliminate 99.9 percent of all bacteria in the air.

According to Udea, although  it is currently not the highest priority for Campus Facilities, they will  slowly approach the goal of removing paper towels first and then swapping the hand dryers for Airblades.