Paper products and their dispensers are necessary everywhere, from hospitals to homes to offices. There are a few things to consider when selecting either:

• Durability. If your application is for cleaning or big messes, coarser brown paper towels are appropriate. But for handwashing or other “human uses”, you might want to go for something softer.
• Existing Infrastructure. Can it fit in your existing dispenser, or do you need a new one?
• Deployment. Are you putting the paper products in a single location (such as a bathroom) or rolling them out to individual users (such as tissues or screen wipes in a classroom)?
• Aesthetics. Paper products and dispensers are sometimes ruthlessly utilitarian, which may be inappropriate for certain environments like small offices or a home.

Dispensers

You may think dispensers are some of the most boring machines on the planet, but there’s actually quite a bit that goes into them! Because they’re high use and often in public places – subjecting them to all manner of abuse – they have to be durable and carefully engineered.

You have a few things to consider for your application:

• Freestanding vs. Wall-mounted: freestanding dispensers are great for outdoor locations or to cover space in large areas, such as a warehouse floor or ballroom. Wall-mounted dispensers obviously can’t be deployed as freely, but they’re securely fastened to the wall so they’re less subject to breakage and abuse.
• Powered vs. Unpowered: powered dispensers can help save supplies by keeping overzealous users from dispensing too much; many are also touch-free. However, they’re also harder to install because of the power requirements, and have more complex parts that can break. Manual dispensers are usually more durable, but can be easily abused. They also require users to touch them, which is not ideal for sanitation.