How to make your Bathroom Eco-Friendly

Have you ever wondered if your bathroom meets the criteria for environmental friendliness?

In our nowadays world, the protection and preservation of our planet is of crucial importance to ensure a livable future for the next generations.

Therefore, in this article, several tips on how you can make your bathroom more eco-friendly are given.

Please take the time to inform yourself so you can improve your ecological footprint and can contribute saving our planet.

14 proven ways to make your bathroom more eco-friendly

  1. Water-efficient toilets
  2. Conserve water with water-efficient devices
  3. Eco-friendly washing machines
  4. Eco-friendly dryers
  5. Use eco-friendly detergents
  6. Organic towels
  7. Buy recycled toilet tissue
  8. Avoid leaky faucets
  9. Use LEDs instead of conventional light bulbs
  10. Avoid plastic shower curtains
  11. Furniture from natural materials
  12. Take showers instead of full baths
  13. Save water in the shower
  14. Always think long-term

Water-efficient toilets

When it comes to the use of toilets, plenty of water is wasted every day.

Stop Food Speculation!

In fact, on average, toilets are the biggest source of water demand in a household. Did you know that old toilets use around 3.6 gallons (about 13.6 liters) of water for every flush?

This sums up to an average of 18.8 gallons (71.1 liters) of water used in the toilet by an average person per day.

For the U.S. alone, this means an average water consumption for the toilet of over 6 billion gallons (22.7 billion liters) of water every day!

In times where many people worldwide suffer from water scarcity, these are shocking facts and everyone of us should as themselves if it is really necessary to waste water in such an extreme manner.

In the future, water will become even more precious and scarce due to global warming.

It is therefore crucial that we take action in order to reduce our water demand substantially.

In the case of toilets, there are good alternatives like ultra low flush toilets, high-efficiency toilets and dual flush toilets.

According to U.S. federal law, ultra low flush toilets are only allowed to use 1.6 gallons (6 liters) or less for every flush.

High-efficiency toilets are even more eco-friendly since they have a maximum cap of 1.3 gallons (5 liters) per flush.

Thus, by using toilets with the new technologies, you could save a vast number of 65% of your total toilet water demand.

Not only will choosing a more efficient toilet will make your bathroom more eco-friendly, it will also save you money, especially in the long run.

Conserve water with water-efficient devices

There are also some water-efficient devices for your bathroom in order to make it eco-friendlier.

For instance, plenty of water is wasted by showering every day.

Did you know that after your toilet and your washing machine, showering is the third biggest source of water demand in a household?

The average American uses more than 17 gallons (65 liters) of water for showering every day with an average of 2.1 gallons (8 liters) per minute.

Thus, it is crucial that we take action to reduce our water demand in the shower.

For instance, this could be done with the use of the right shower head.

There are shower heads which can save you plenty of water without making your showering experience worse.

In order to save water, you should first figure out how much water your showerhead releases per minute.

Just google your model and you will easily get the information.

After you figured this out, you should watch out for models that release less water.

Optimal would be a showerhead that uses 1.5 gallons (5.7 liters) of water per minute or less.

Compared to the average of 2.1 gallons (8 liters) per minute, you can save more than 25% of your water demand for showering just by using the right shower head.

Isn’t this worth a few minutes of research?!

Eco-friendly washing machines

Since washing machines are the second-largest source of water demand in a household after your toilet, it is crucial to also save water in this regard.

While old washing machines use a shocking amount of up to 45 gallons (170 liters) of water per load, newer versions often only use 20 gallons (75 liters) or less.

There are even high-efficiency washing machines that often use less than 15 gallons (57 liters) of water or less.

Thus, by switching from your old washing machine to a newer one, you can save up to two-thirds of your water demand related to washing purposes.

Before buying a new washing machine, make sure that the amount of water that the machine uses is quite low.

Moreover, you should also take a look at the energy-efficiency of a washing machine.

High energy efficiency in conjuncture with low water demand per load is what you should look for.

By using eco-friendly washing machines, you could greatly reduce your overall water demand and also save money as a nice side effect.

Eco-friendly dryers

For dryers, there is also a huge potential to improve your ecological footprint since dryers consume plenty of electricity and there are also significant differences in energy demand between the different models.

For instance, the energy use of dryers usually is between 1700 and 5000 watts.

You read it correctly!

You can save up to two-thirds of your energy use from dryers by switching from an old to an efficient one!

Since energy will become more expensive over time due to the transition process to renewable energies, you will not only improve your ecological footprint by buying a new version but you will also save significant amounts of money due to a lower energy bill.

Thus, when it comes to the decision of buying a new dryer, make sure that the dryer consumes low levels of energy.

Also make sure that you check out reviews to make sure that you buy a durable product that can be used over a quite long time in order to save resources and to make it even more eco-friendly.

Use eco-friendly detergents

Detergents often contain many chemicals that are harmful to our environment and that can even hurt your health and the health of your family.

However, there are also eco-friendly detergents out there that try to use natural ingredients and avoid components that could hurt our planet.

Although conventional detergents are usually cheaper than eco-friendly detergents, a few dollars more a month should not hurt the majority of people too much and should be worth it.

Since also industries recognize that people want to live greener, many companies offer environmentally-friendly detergents.

However, make sure that these detergents actually are eco-friendly!

You should check out the ingredients of a detergent to make sure that it is actually organic.

Moreover, there are some official labels that can help you identifying eco-friendly detergents.

By switching from chemical to eco-friendly detergents, you can not only improve your ecological footprint, but also improve your health and the health of your family by avoiding harmful chemical substances.

Organic towels

Did you know that non-organic towels contain up to 20 different chemicals, including stabilizers and coloring and perfuming agents?

These chemicals can be harmful to your health may also lead to significant levels of pollution once they get old and are disposed of into the garbage.

Thus, by using organic rather than non-organic towels, you could further improve your eco-footprint and also increase your health level.

Organic towels are made from organic materials like organic cotton, hemp, bamboo or flax linen.

Make sure that the towels that you buy are not only made from organic materials, but also under sustainable conditions.

Moreover, make sure that the workers who produced those towels get a fair wage.

You should look out for a fair-trade label in order to ensure fair working conditions.

By taking these factors into account, you can further increase the eco-friendliness of your bathroom.

Buy recycled toilet tissue

Apart from bigger purchases, there are also quite simple steps regarding how you can make your bathroom eco-friendlier.

For instance, you can buy recycled toilet tissue instead of conventional versions.

By doing so, you can reduce the consumption of natural resources and therefore you can reduce many environmental problems.

Moreover, buying recycled toilet tissue is not a big deal at all.

It will have the look and feel like conventional toilet paper, however, you can get a good feeling to protect our planet by using recycled toilet tissue.

Avoid leaky faucets

In order to save water, you should also make sure that your faucets don’t leak.

Whenever you see your faucets leaking, you should take action and repair them in order to avoid wasting water.

Did you know that only one drip per second due to leaky faucets can add up to around 3,000 gallons (11,350 liters) a year?!

Thus, it is crucial that you replace your old leaky faucets with new high-quality ones that last for a quite long time in order to save water and improve your ecological footprint.

Use LEDs instead of conventional light bulbs

In order to save electricity, it is also crucial to switch from conventional lighting to energy-efficient LED bulbs.

Compared to conventional light bulbs, LEDs only need a small fraction of this energy to work and light up your bathroom.

Thus, this small and simple step will decrease your energy demand significantly.

Avoid plastic shower curtains

As we already know, plastic most often is a significant problem for our environment.

Thus, you should try to avoid using plastic shower curtains and buy curtains made of organic materials instead.

Another way to go would be to use a glass shower screen instead of a curtain.

Furniture from natural materials

You should also make sure that your bathroom furniture is made or organic rather than of plastic materials.

This material should also be produced under fair labor conditions and should also be sustainable.

For instance, a good material for this purpose is bamboo, since it grows quite fast and is also fully organic.

Take showers instead of full baths

While the average shower lasts around 8 minutes and uses around 17 gallons (64 liters) of water, an average full bath needs about 70 gallons (265 liters) of water.

Thus, you can save plenty of water if you are willing to substitute your baths by showers.

Save water in the shower

Apart from energy, water and resource efficiency of your devices, it is also crucial that you adjust your own behavior.

This could mean that you reduce your showering time in order to save water.

By taking action and saving water, you will not only improve your ecological footprint but also will have a good feeling since you know you made your social contribution.

Always think long-term

For all your efforts, it is crucial that you compare the costs and benefits of switching from old to more energy-efficient devices in the long run.

There may be significant upfront costs for new products, but the benefits in terms of eco-friendliness and also from financial savings often exceed the initial costs in the long-term.

Thus, always take into account the long run when making buying decisions.

Conclusion

There are plenty of ways how you can make your bathroom more environmentally-friendly.

It is on you to take action in order to improve your ecological footprint and to contribute to a brighter future for the next generations.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

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