Global energy consumption is slowing down due to efforts for renewable energy. But according to estimates, it’s still high and will continue to increase. Experts estimate global water consumption at 9 trillion tons annually, so it’s easy to see why we must live sustainably. Through daily individual efforts, you can reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to making the world a better place.
How can you make your bathroom more environment-friendly? It may seem like there isn’t much you can change in your bathroom, but you can do a lot to make the space eco-friendly.
What’s an Eco-Friendly Bathroom?
An eco-friendly bathroom has little to no negative impact on the environment. As it is, the bathroom is one of the areas with a serious environmental impact since most of the everyday items we use end up in landfills, many of which take hundreds of years to break down. To make your bathroom more eco-friendly, you can replace harmful items with sustainable alternatives.
How to Make Your Bathroom More Eco-Friendly
Creating a green bathroom is all about making sustainable changes. You don’t have to get everything right. Just make a conscious effort to preserve the earth’s resources. Consider these tips for making your bathroom more eco-friendly:
1. Use Water-Saving Showerheads
The world is already using water at an unsustainable rate. Considering the average family can save up to 2,700 gallons a year by installing a WaterSense-labeled showerhead, whatever you can save will have a huge impact. These water-saving showerheads pass globally accepted criteria that ensure performance.
Replace your standard showerhead, which wastes ridiculous amounts of water, with a water-saving showerhead that limits the volume of water passing through it. While you may experience a slight drop in water pressure, knowing that you’re doing your part to conserve resources makes it worth it.
2. Use Recyclable Materials
The more we recycle, the less strain we put on raw resources. Your bathroom may be filled with non-recyclable items that will end up in landfills once you dispose of them. You can change that by using recyclable materials. These tend to come with a label that says they can be recycled. Look into recyclable glasses, plastics and boxes, and use them instead.
If you’re unsure, natural materials are the best alternatives because they are biodegradable and often don’t consume much energy to produce. You could switch out many items in your bathroom, like toothbrushes, towels, mats and baskets. Try natural materials made from wood, natural fiber, straw and bamboo.
What about the many plastic bottles holding soap, creams and sprays? With plastic bottles, prioritize products made by environment-conscious manufacturers who recycle their packaging. You could also switch to solid soap, shampoo and conditioner bars to reduce plastic and container use.
3. Use Recycled Toilet Paper
It may come as a surprise that toilet paper accounts for a huge portion of global deforestation. Millions of trees are cut down to meet the world’s demand for toilet paper. It will take awareness and collective effort to stop flushing our forests down the toilet.
Start by using recycled toilet paper, which is made from sustainable materials. It may not be as comfortable, but it’s environmentally friendly. Alternatively, you could do away with toilet paper altogether — after all, we’re still destroying trees, water supplies and ecosystems to support the practice.
You could opt to clean yourself with water. It’s considered more hygienic, and the bidet is already replacing toilet paper in many parts of the world. With a bidet seat or bidet attachment, you’ll be on your way to a more eco-friendly bathroom.
4. Use a Water-Saving Toilet
Your bathroom is likely the room that uses the most water, from showers and washing to flushing toilets. The toilet alone accounts for as much as 27% of all water usage. However, like showerheads, investing in new sustainable technologies allows you to reduce the volume of water that goes to waste, saving water and money on energy bills.
Install modern, EPA-certified water-saving toilets. These can use less than 1.28 gallons per flush, reducing water usage from as much as 1.6 gallons per flush for standard toilets.
5. Use Bulk Cleaning Products
Considering cleaning products like shampoos, body washes and detergents run out fast, you may have plenty of plastic bottles and containers in a short time. While recycling is great if you buy recyclable packages, reusing is even better. Set aside containers you can reuse and find local vendors offering refills of detergents and other cleaning products. Doing that allows you to use the same containers long-term.
6. Use Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs
Lighting is one area you can easily overlook, but it can be a serious energy guzzler. As you rethink your energy use in the bathroom, confirm that you only use energy-efficient lightbulbs, preferably LED fixtures with the ENERGY STAR qualification. With these bulbs, you’ll use less energy and save on electricity bills.
If you want to take things further and transform your bathroom into a sustainable enclave, why not install a skylight? Skylights are a stylish and unique way to introduce natural light into your bathroom and avoid turning the lights on during the day. Unlike windows, which are not ideal for bathrooms for privacy reasons, skylights sit high above ground level on the roof.
Aside from natural lighting, skylights can also offer natural ventilation, eliminating the need for fans or an HVAC system to provide proper airflow. Ensure you install a venting skylight, not a fixed one.
7. Use Greenery
Adding plants to your bathroom makes the atmosphere more soothing, which is perfect for your mood and mental health. But does bringing in a plant help the environment besides making your bathroom literally green?
Through photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air, reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Since plants can absorb airborne pollutants, bringing them into your bathroom will help purify the air. Even if it’s a small room, anything you can do to reduce your contribution to toxic gas emissions goes a long way.
In addition, some plants — such as the Boston fern, spider plant and English ivy — can help reduce moisture and condensation, fighting mold. These plants have adapted to water conservation and will aid your efforts to lower humidity in the bathroom.
Create an Eco-Friendly Bathroom With Star Water Systems
Living sustainably is a choice with a major positive impact on the environment. When making sustainable changes around the home, keep your bathroom in mind, as it tends to go unnoticed. Adopting solutions such as recycling, reusing, conserving energy and using less water is an excellent way to go green in your bathroom.
At Star Water Systems, we understand the value of preserving the environment, which is why our Powerflush Optima toilets meet the EPA criteria for water conservation. If you’re searching for an eco-friendly solution to toilet flushing, explore our Powerflush products today!
