One thing I find irritating about these dryers is the suggestion that the use of the dryer will save trees. In fact, the website of the company has this tagline: "Push button, Save trees." The trouble is that such an assertion is misleading at best, and downright dishonest at worst. The belief that trees will be saved is the result of some rather naive assumptions, and a failure to understand the basic economic concepts of supply and demand.
The incorrect assumptions are that paper companies indiscriminately harvest trees, that these trees belong to no one in particular, and that trees are non-renewable. In fact, trees are simply another agricultural commodity. Though they take longer than other products (such as corn) to come to maturity, tree production is nevertheless subject to the same laws of supply and demand. Paper companies, rather than indiscriminately cutting down "public" trees, purchase trees from a third party or they own land where they grow trees for the express purpose of making paper.
Now lets assume, for the moment, that a large number of people switch to using the World Dryer, enough to result in a substantial decrease in the demand for paper towels. As the demand for towels slips, so will the demand for trees. With the drop in demand for trees, the price of the trees will also decrease. The lower price for trees means growers will find it less profitable to grow trees, making it less likely they will plant new trees.
The end result of all this is that, rather than "saving" trees, as is suggested, there will be a net loss of trees. If the World Dryer company truly wants to see more trees, they should encourage the use of paper towels.
I was the one who came up with that tag line when I was at World Dryer, and I stand behind it!
ReplyDeleteYou make the assumption that trees only grow if they are planted - such as in a farm. In most places, trees would grow abundantly if they were not harvested. Have you ever seen the side of a mountain that has been clear-cut? It is devastating - not only to the trees, but also to the rest of the local environment. Some of the damage may be permanent. How would using paper towels help that eco-system?
And your point that trees are not like corn - they can't be grown every year and harvested and replanted - is a really good one. Think about it.
But not only do hand dryers save trees, but it also takes a huge amount of energy, chemicals and resources to make paper towels. It takes less energy just to dry hands using a hand dryer than it does to make the equivilant amount of paper towels.
McDonald's truly is doing a good thing for the environment by using hand dryers. Maybe that's that's not why they are doing it. Maybe they are doing it just because they save a lot of money and clean-up time. But saving money and doing the right thing often do go hand in hand.
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