Environmental and economic sustainability in public contexts: the impact of hand-drying options on waste management, carbon emissions and operating costs

Abstract

Due to the high density of users hosted everyday, public buildings are important producers of waste and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Public restrooms play an underrated role in waste generation and GHG emissions, especially if paper towels are used as the hand-drying method. The choice of the hand-drying method (i.e., paper towels vs. electrical hand dryers) also affects the economic balance of a public institution, involving costs for the purchase of hand-drying materials/apparatuses, energy and waste disposal. The present paper aims at evaluating the economic and environmental impact of the introduction of electrical hand dryers (alternative scenario) in place of paper towels (reference scenario) in a public building. The paper presents a solid methodology, based on a numerical experiment approach, to identify a decision criterion for establishing the economical convenience of adopting the alternative scenario in public restrooms. Key factors affecting the choice between the proposed alternatives are presented and discussed in a dedicated sensitivity analysis. From the environmental point of view, this study evaluates the impact of each scenario in terms of GHG emissions, related to multiple waste treatment options and different electric grid mixes. Based on the experimental assumptions, the method allowed concluding that the alternative scenario becomes economically convenient when the number of daily usages (N) is > 57 ± 4. The environmental convenience of the alternative scenario is visible even at N < 10. The method here described can be successfully used to support strategic decisions for cost optimization and environmental mitigation in institutional buildings.

Effect of Optimal Alcohol-Based Hand Rub among Nurse Students Compared with Everyday Practice among Random Adults; Can Water-Based Hand Rub Combined with a Hand Dryer Machine Be an Alternative to Remove E. coli Contamination from Hands?

“…We conducted two earlier studies with the ABHR procedures and found similar results among nurse students [ 12 , 13 ]. It has been demonstrated in a study that up to 86% of test subjects in a real world setting use only small doses of alcohol disinfectant, if not instructed otherwise, as low as approximately 0.75 mL [ 22 ]. In the present study, 46% (12 out of 26 participants) in group B used at least two doses (3 mL) from the dispenser, as recommended by the manufacturer.…”

Bibliometric analysis of sustainability papers: Evidence from Environment, Development and sustainability

“…In the environmental cluster, studies have highlighted the need to reduce carbon emissions (Coller et al, 2021;Khurshid et al, 2022), use renewable energy to improve energy efficiency (Irfan et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2021), biodiversity (Teraa & Bencherif, 2022), and the importance of preserving the environment for poor communities (Forkuor & Korah, 2023;Ho et al, 2022).…”

Environmental impacts of waste-to-energy processes in mountainous areas: The case of an Alpine region

“…The criticalities of the local waste management consist in the destination of residual MSW, especially in Trentino, the southern province. This area is characterised by high selective collection rates, partly favoured by the tariff in force, which penalise the production of residual MSW and bad selective collection behaviours by the users [27][28][29]. Most of the flow of the residual waste produced here has been historically sent to MSW landfills, which are now reaching saturation.…”