Bathroom Blues

  Have you ever had to share a bathroom with 24 first-year college boys? No? Well, I have had to do it for 2 straight years, and it's a mostly awful experience. You get used to it, but it's still not optimal. Last year, my hall's bathroom looked atrocious all year. It was so bad sometimes that I would go to the other halls to shower or even just pee. The negative externalities posed by my residents deeply affected me, so I decided to make a change for the better with my hall's bathroom this year. To reduce the marginal social cost imposed by differences in hygiene, I decided to keep paper towels in the bathroom this year because UVA chose to replace them with hand dryers in all dorms at the beginning of my 2nd year. While it may seem that the true story here is about paper towels, it isn't. The true story is about a government action undertaken for reasons that benefit said government but negatively impact those who must face the consequences of the government's actions. UVA removed paper towels for "sustainability reasons," but eliminating paper towels and implementing hand dryers has a negligible impact on UVA's overall carbon footprint. 

Furthermore, other things like hygiene, noise, and, most importantly, the spread of pathogens must be considered. Hand dryers are nasty. Plain and simple. Total bacterial levels on hand dryers can be up to 30x more bacteria-infested than paper towel dispensers. In fact, UVA knows this, which is why they said paper towels were just a temporary measure to reduce disease transmission during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Does disease and germ transmission not matter during non-pandemic times?

In addition, paper towels clean up messes, so my hall's bathroom has been much cleaner this year than last. UVA should also consider the effect of having no paper towels on their custodians. Messes that were once cleaned up in bathrooms are now there to stay because residents are not bringing paper towels to the bathrooms every time they use them, and they are not using toilet paper to clean up their messes. This means that custodians are exposed to more pathogens and nasty chemicals, potentially affecting their health. Paper towels are the best way to keep restrooms clean and residents safe. Still, UVA's self-interest in maintaining and propping up its image as environmentally conscious prevents it from doing what's right for its students and faculty.