Woodsetts Primary School in Rotherham has installed Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel hand dryers in one of its cloakrooms as part of an environmental project, and is discovering a host of other benefits too.
Fawn Litchfield, Mitsubishi Electric’s product specialist for Jet Towel hand dryers takes up the story: “The children from Year Three were looking at their own impact on the environment, seeing if they could systematically reduce it.”
For instance they worked out that if they walked to school instead of coming by car they would cut pollution and also get some good exercise. They also looked at interactive low energy lighting and water conservation and other issues.
They also collected and weighed all their waste for a day and realised that paper towels were a large part of it. When the kids were told that towels are not recyclable they became very focused on designing their use out of school.
“As part of the maths curriculum they looked at hand drying, working out that a class of 30 kids each washing their hands about three times a day at school would work out to nearly 25,000 dryings a year. Then a bit of googling showed them that a Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel hand dryer uses only a fraction of the energy of a conventional hot air dryer. They needed a bit of help with the concept of kilowatt hours, but figured out that a Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel would save their school hundreds of pounds in energy bills.”
The pupils wrote to Fawn with their findings and before you know it, a sleek new Mitsubishi
Electric Jet Towel was installed in their class cloakroom. And it was not only the children who were delighted.
The class teacher Lucy Brindley noticed its quiet operation does not disturb lessons. Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel’s low noise 59dB operation is far quieter than any other dryer, and its noise level can be reduced even further by adjusting the airspeed.
Additionally the 10 second drying time means the children don’t have time to get distracted and walk off with still wet (and possibly bacteria-laden) hands. And when there is a rush, say at morning break, traffic flow through the Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel is smooth and stress free.
The head teacher Jane Walker has also come to admire Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel; the kids love to use it, it blows moisture straight down its drain and it has an antimicrobial coating on its surfaces. Thus it has helped reduce absenteeism due to illness.
Sickness and illness can rip though a primary school, as the children tend to be quite tactile with one another, so share resources and, naturally, do not have the resistance to bacteria of teenagers and adults. Therefore hygiene is of the utmost importance and every encouragement must be given to developing good personal practices.
“The Mitsubishi Electric Jet Towel Mark 8 was launched recently,” says Fawn. “It’s quieter, fast and more hygienic than ever“.
