Ironically, despite being one of the most used rooms in the house, bathrooms are often the most overlooked in terms of transforming them to be more eco-friendly. We understand that it takes up only a fraction of space in your overall square footage; however, it still requires the same attention from you. After all, it is the one place in your home where waste runs freely – in both contexts.
With climate change becoming a continuously increasing cause of concern for us humans, it’s about time that we begin to implement some effective strategies that are friends to our environment. No, we will not suggest you give up your home, live in a yurt and switch to a composting toilet. Instead of going to that extreme, a few changes in your bathroom can certainly help.
In this article, we will give you some tips that can create a long-lasting positive impact on how your lifestyle impacts the environment. Since earth remains the only planet we call home, it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure we do our part in sustaining it for the generations to come.
Change the Light Bulbs
This is one of the easiest and simplest ways you can make your bathroom – or any room in your house – a little more eco-friendly. LED light bulbs have been proven to be quite effective and energy-efficient. Energy Star rated LED are especially great as they use approximately 75% less energy and last 25 times more than incandescent lights.
They are becoming more popular as people realize they deliver the same results with less negative outcomes. The U.S. Department of Energy suggests that within the next 10 years, the use of LED lights could save more than $30 billion and 346Twh energy.
Change the Showerheads
If you want to change one habit in the bathroom, replace baths with showers. This is a great way to cut down on water usage. Typically, a shower will take you 5 to 10 minutes. But if you are the one to enjoy long showers, instead of depriving yourself of that, switch to a low-flow showerhead.
A regular showerhead will likely deliver 5 to 8 gallons of water every minute. Multiply that with the time it takes you to shower and you’ll have the number that shows water wastage. A low-flow showerhead can curb that as it delivers around 2.5 gallons of water per minute. And yes, it does so at the same pressure.
By wasting less water, you’ll be doing the environment a favor and also saving money on your water bill.
Don’t Forget the Faucets
We are guilty of leaving the faucet running when we lazily brush our teeth in the morning. On average, this alone causes more than 6 gallons of water to go wasted. If this is a regular habit of yours, first try to make an active effort to correct that habit.
Another way to reduce water wastage is by replacing your faucets with ones that have a motion sensor. These turn on and off when you move or remove your hands from under the faucet. Besides saving water, these are also great to maintain hygiene around your sink that is often compromised due to the gunk that builds up around the faucet handles.
Getting Down to Business – The Toilet
Unsurprisingly, our toilets are responsible for consuming the most amount of water in our homes. In fact, they make up approximately 31% of overall water consumption in the average household.
When it comes down to the number of flushes, around 6-gallon water is used per flush. Considering that you use your home toilet 5 times a day, that’s 30 gallons lost. The number gets higher when you have more people in the house!
Since toilets make up a significant portion of water consumption, they also present a great opportunity for conservation. If your toilet is old and you have the budget, consider replacing it with a more environmentally friendly alternative.
There are several choices you can consider:
- Low-Flow toilets, like low-flow faucets, reduce the amount of water used. Instead of wasting 6 gallons of water per flush, low-flow toilets use only 1.6 gallons. When you tally it all up, it would make up a number way less than what you would be using with a regular toilet.
- Dual-flush systems give you the option to choose how much water to use per flush by pressing either of two buttons or levers. One option is meant to flush liquid waste and uses approximately 0.8 gallons of water while the other is meant for solid excrement and uses the standard 1.6 gallons.
WaterSense
The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has introduced a program called WaterSense. Similarly to EnergyStar, it provides manufacturers standards for manufacturing more efficient products.
Toilets with the WaterSense mark are more effective in reducing water usage. These are 20% more water-efficient and use 1.28 gallons of water for each flush.
Improve your Toileting Experience Further – The Technology of Trackless Flush Sheets
While installing a more efficient toilet is an effective solution for saving water and making your bathroom more eco-friendly, Trackless Flush Sheets take it one step further. Manufactured with great attention to detail and unique technology, these 10-inch sheets are your toilet’s and the environment’s friends.
Embodying the marvels of chemical engineering, Trackless Flush Sheets make maintaining toilet hygiene easier. Its purpose is to leave your toilet free of embarrassing tracks, preventing the need for multiple flushes and harmful cleaning chemicals.
The sheet itself is made of special paper stock that dissolves in water within 20 minutes. In the center of the sheet is an environmentally-friendly enzyme patch. You place the sheet in the toilet bowl before doing your business. It sinks to the bottom of the bowl and expands thanks to its ridged edges.
Once you are done using the toilet and flush, the sheet wraps around the waste and takes it down the drain without it touching the bowl. But that’s not all as the enzyme patch in the center begins breaking down the waste on a molecular level. One marvelous feature of Trackless Flush Sheets is that the enzymes break down toilet paper, which prevent it from creating clogs in the drain.
When you recognize all the benefits these sheets provide, you’ll quickly make them a staple bathroom product. Not only will you save yourself from embarrassing tracks and odors coming from the toilet but also help reduce your impact on the environment.
It doesn’t matter if it’s in your home, work or a public bathroom, if there’s a toilet (not composting toilets), you can use Trackless Flush Sheets. If you want to give these a try and test how they work, you can pre-order them here and learn more about the wonders of their function here.