Individual paper towels come in three different folds — single fold, multifold and C-fold. Single fold has one fold, multifold has two folds and a C-fold, which comes as 10 inches in length and 3 1/2 inches wide is actually 13 inches by 10 inches when fully opened and flat, which rarely ever happens when it is used.

The easy accessibility of folded towels makes them readily available to grab by the handful. This often creates large amount of waste and costs facilities money. In contrast, hardwound roll towels combined with controlled-use dispensers control the amount of paper provided and save huge amounts of paper — an estimated 25 to 35 percent according to manufacturers. In most applications, roll towel dispensers also need to be refilled less often than folded towel dispensers, saving on maintenance time. Sensor-operated dispensers also curb how much towel can be taken.