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I saw a poster near the hand dryer in the washroom at my office that said:

1 Tree = 20,000 paper hand towels.

Picture of poster

Is that accurate?

Oddthinking
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Kip Martian
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    Related: Is replacing paper towels with electric hand dryer blowers beneficial to the environment? – Laurel Sep 03 '23 at 16:41
  • It's certainly not this simple. When a tree is cut down, different parts of it are used for different purposes. Paper towels would be made from scraps, presumably like sawdust and bits left over from cutting boards. The real question is how many fewer paper towels would need to be used to save one tree and that depends on the demand for various tree products and which one is the limiting factor in tree usage. For example there would still be demand for boards to build houses and decks and other stuff so it could be that reducing paper towel usage would save no trees. – Reinstate Monica Sep 03 '23 at 17:33
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    What size tree are they talking about? Trees are renewable: they are a crop – it's not always about cutting down forests. I don't get why they are supplying paper towels but saying don't use them. I hope the dryer is powered by renewable energy sources, and I wonder how much coal a power station burns to dry 20,000 pairs of hands. I don't think there is a straightforward answer to the question. – Weather Vane Sep 04 '23 at 17:05
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    Paper towels are often made from recycled materials: the material from one tree can be used and reused. – Weather Vane Sep 04 '23 at 17:38
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    @WeatherVane: You're building up a straw man in your comment when you compare the sustainability of the electric dryer to paper towels – the question is just about the "10,000 trees" claim, so answers don't have to address the energy source of the dryer. The point about recycled material is relevant, though. But partial answers in comments aren't really encouraged on this site. – Schmuddi Sep 06 '23 at 05:58
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    @Schmuddi I'm unsure whether the question is answerable as asked, but I am also doubtful whether the original notice was posted in good faith. If the proprietor doesn't want people to use paper towels, why are they available? And if they are provided, why are they made from trees, and not from recycled fences, cardboard boxes, stationery etc? – Weather Vane Sep 06 '23 at 20:10
  • As written this claim is almost certainly wrong by weight considerations. 20.000 paper towels is something like 100 rolls of paper towel. My quick googling unfortunately didn't give any weight but I would estimate something like 20kg. A tree worth of wood is several tons. Of course wood weight is not equal to paper weight but this claim is of by several orders of magnitude. – quarague Sep 11 '23 at 08:03

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