Pa. Turnpike to gradually eliminate paper towels at all 17 of its service plazas

Jul 11, 2023

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission partners with Applegreen — the vendor contracted to operate the 17 service plazas. Applegreen is removing towel dispensers as the restrooms are renovated at each of the turnpike's service plazas. The towel dispensers will be replaced with hand dryers. (Photo provided)

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has a plan to come America's First Sustainable Superhighway by 2040.

"Protecting the environment through sustainability has been a guiding principle," Mark Compton, CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, said in a news release in April.

As part of that plan, the turnpike plans to convert fully to open road tolling by 2026 and integrate solar, fiber, inductive charging, connected-vehicle technology and buried electronic transmission lines by 2040. Those of course are the big things. One smaller thing that motorists may start to notice at some of the 17 service plazas along the turnpike is the elimination of paper towels.

The Tuesday through Sunday around Thanksgiving are the busiest travel days of the year on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with a potential 3.7 million cars and trucks expected to be on the road this year, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials say.

The turnpike partners with Applegreen, the vendor contracted to operate the 17 service plazas. Applegreen is removing towel dispensers as the restrooms are renovated at each of the turnpike's service plazas. The towel dispensers will be replaced with hand dryers.

Turnpike officials said that manufacturing paper towels uses significant resources, including water and trees. The organization said that it is making the change to air dryers is expected to reduce use of water, energy, and chemicals needed in the manufacturing process; decrease deforestation required to manufacture these and other paper products; cut down on the generation of waste which ends up in landfills; and help decrease maintenance and operating costs over time.

So far the restrooms at Highspire Plaza in Dauphin County, South Midway Plaza in Bedford County and Peter J. Camiel Plaza in western Chester County have transitioned to hand dryers.

The next phase of renovations will be at Valley Forge Plaza in eastern Chester County and North Midway Plaza in Bedford County. So far there has been no confirmed dates to start these two renovation projects, but they will most likely begin this winter, according to a Turnpike spokesperson. A construction schedule for the restrooms at the 12 remaining service plaza is still being developed.

The turnpike is installing signs at each restroom location as the changes occur that read "Paper towels have been replaced with hand dryers for conservation."

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