Brilliant! How far are we from being able to purchase supertowels for distribution by our relief teams?

Just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this article posted on Crowd360.org: Rethinking handwashing during food preparation

Dear Ross,

Thank you for your comments.

I cannot comment on the "Refreshing towel" problem as I am not familiar with it. Can you send me a link to articles describing the problem?

Supertowel is a product under development and we have not yet performed any end-of-life studies on the product. The product is made of a durable Polyester microfiber blend, which is a videly used fabric composition. In the development of Supertowel we have put emphasis on making the product as durable as possible, among others to reduce waste creation through that route.

Your comment is very valid and we will bear it in mind as we continue the development of Supertowel.

Interesting concept these towels. Has there been any testing of possible environmental problems when disposing finally of these towels ? Wouldn't like to see a repeat of the " Refreshing Towels" that have proved to be disastrous in landfill.

Cheers Ross

(This post was originally in this thread: forum.susana.org/26-health-issues-and-co...ting-on-toilet-seats )

Thanks for your very valid comments. I couldn't agree more.

The problems surrounding handwashing are many, a place to do, availability of soap and water, habits etc.

This is why we need new, innovative tools that rethinks the way handwashing is done.

A colaboration between LSHTM, DRC, Real Relief and the Humanitarian Innovation Fund, is about to engage in a field study in Ethiopia using Supertowel as a substitute for soap and running water for handwashing.

Supertowel is a piece of durable fabric with an antimicrobial treatment and it has already been proven in the lab that handwashing with the towel gives better results in terms of germ reduction than soap and water.

One of the advantages of Supertowel is that it can be carried around wet and thereby allowing for handwashing vitually anywhere and anytime.

The project can be followed by visiting the blog on HIF's homepage: www.elrha.org/project/real-relief/ , where there are also links to the partners.