Ten Ways To Green Your Bathroom
By Jenn | January 1, 2008
- Spray the shower with a natural mold-fighting solution after each use: This preventative measure can eliminate the need for toxic chemical mold-killers in the future– a few spritzes now will save a whole lot of scrubbing/re-grouting later. Fill a spray bottle with one of these suggested solutions, and keep it in the shower:
- White vinegar, or
- 2 cups water + 2 teaspoons tea tree oil, or
- Water + lavendar essential oil
- Use baking soda as a tub and sink scrubber: The abrasive qualities are similar to that of “bathroom scrubbers” but without the unneccessary toxic chemical additions so often found in those products:
- Sprinkle it on straight and wipe with a sponge, or
- Combine with water to make a paste, or
- Make your own natural “soft scrub”
- Open a window, crack a door, or install an exhaust fan: By implementing a venting strategy in this most humid of rooms, you’ll remove the dampness which is needed for the growth of mold. No mold, no need to use chemicals to clean the mold.
- Clean mirrors with vinegar: Fill a spray bottle with a solution of half white vinegar + half water, and you’ll have sparkling mirrors with no need for eerie blue cleansers. If you have streaks after using this combo, add up to 1/2 tsp of liquid dishsoap to the bottle and try again (the streaks are most likely caused by your previous chemical-laden glass cleaner). And if you use old newspapers to wipe the mirror, you’ll have a lint-free shine with a no-impact paper use…don’t forget to recycle!
- Switch to recycled toilet paper: This simple choice has immense implications, as old-growth trees are still being cut down in order to make single-use disposable paper products, such as toilet paper and paper towels. This absurd practice should be illegal, or at least punishable by rebirth as a worm– but in the meantime, switching to recycled TP is the smartest and easiest choice you can make. (Read about Grist’s survey of recycled TP here.)
- Reduce your bathroom water consumption:
- Retrofit your toilet with a dual-flush handle (here and here and here)
- Install an Aquis reclamation system
- Keep a bucket under the sink/in the shower to catch your waste water, for use on your plants/in your garden.
- Take shorter showers
- Put an aerator in your faucet (so worth the few dollars you’ll pay at a hardware store)
- And the easiest step of all: put a sealed bottle into your toilet tank to reduce its water usage.
- Use an environmentally friendly shower curtain: When it’s time for a new curtain, don’t buy a new evil PVC one– opt for a green one instead:
- Hemp
- Organic cotton
- Linen (+ an awesome cork bathmat!)
- Coated nylon (nylon doesn’t offgas like PVC, but still made from petroleum)
- Install a low-flow showerhead: From an inexpensive model at your local hardware store to much more expensive super-fancy luxurious models, low-flow showerheads can cut your water consumption in half while still getting you squeaky clean.
- Green your personal care:
- Use oil, or shea butter, or cocoa butter as a body moisturizer
- Choose either a replaceable head or recycled/recyclable plastic toothbrush (click for video of Preserve toothbrushes on the Sundance Channel)
- Switch to Dr. Bronners as soap/shampoo/toothpaste/etc (All One!)
- Find eco-friendly replacements for your shampoo, conditioner and haircare.
- Use replaceable-head razors instead of disposables, or switch to shaving with a straight-razor.
- Install a compact flourescent lightbulb!
What did I miss? How have you greened your bathroom?
Do you have any links to share for energy efficient exhaust fans? We are looking for one that we can install on the wall of our bathroom.
another easy tip is to close your shower curtain after each shower. if it’s not bunched up, it won’t mold as quickly!
Great one! Also, I forgot: shut off the water when you brush/shave/daydream!
It is nice to see your tips for water saving products in the restroom. But I have to warm you and others about the dual flush retro fit kits that are linked to your site.
First, let me give you a bit of information about me. I am the Regional Manager for the Southwest USA for Caroma. Caroma is the Autralian based toilet manufacturer which invented the dual flush toilet.
The dual flush retro fit kits most likely will not work adequately. Old toilets which were designed to work on 3 gallons or more, need that much water to move the liquid or waste thru the trap and into the drain lines. In 1994 when 1.6 gallon toilets became mandatory, many manufacturers simply took their existing 3.5 gallon toilets and changed the flapper so they would flush 1.6 gallons. Their flush performance was horrible and their reputation still haunts the industry today.
Make sure any plumbing product you install in your home is listed and approved by IAPMO (International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials) and that the product has been tested and warranted. Installing it on any existing toilet will void the warranty from the toilet manufacturer.
My advice, buy a new dual flush toilet that is designed to flush correctly on a minimal amount of water, like a Caroma.
Hi Kurt– thanks for your input. I’ve reduced my toilet’s water consumption signifcantly by putting sealed water-filled bottles in the tank (as per my last bullet point under “water conservation”, above), and have seen absolutely no reduction in efficiency per flush. Even if there’s a rare need to flush twice, maybe once per month or so, over the long term that toilet is consuming way less water then it normally would.
Also, many people simply cannot replace their current toilet, either because they rent, or just can’t afford to undertake such an expense.
I don’t doubt that there were performance issues with the early low-flow toilets– thanks for the historical reference– however, having read a bit of feedback on those retrofit dual-flush handles, it seems like most people are fairly happy with them. So I think the moral of the story is: install new if you can/need to, otherwise do what you can to reduce the flow!
Jenn
[…] Ten Ways To Green Your Bathroom […]
…and one more. Place a bucket in your tub/shower to capture water as you wait for the hot water to arrive when taking a shower. For me, this is 2 1/2 gallons! I get another 2 small flushes (pee) or one full flush out of this water. We take 3 showers a day, so this amounts to a great savings as well as keeping the whole household in tuned with saving water on a daily basis. I even leave the bucket in the shower with me. You’d be surprised at how much more water gets in my 5 gallon bucket during a 10 min shower and how little soap is in there. :-D
Jason I do exactly the same - I usually get enough from each shower for a full flush. Good to know other people do this, and I’m not unique in taking a bucket into the shower!
…whoops, sorry, just see that I skimmed over this one. My bad. :-(
Hey Jason! I love hearing about how much water ya’ll save– it’s so neat to have such a tangible representation of conservation. Rock on!
excellent post!
Save water with this toilet etiquette.
If it’s brown flush it down.
If it’s yellow let it mellow.
For other water
If it’s gray, on plants do spray.
Ooohh, thanks Paul! That might be the best water-conservation tip because it rhymes!
Those are all great tips, but there’s one more that saves water AND electricity — taking a navy shower! In case anyone doesn’t know, I explain what one of those is here: Navy showers save water
Share a bath with a friend.
Ooohhh good one. Probably the best tip of all. And you can discuss all of your other green choices while you’re in there together!
I live in the mountain in Northern NH and in the last 7 years have never had running water in the winter. If you want to learn how to conserve water you should try having to lug in your water! I am the queen of what my ex-husband (an army vet) would call the helmet bath. You’d be surprised how little water you really need to bathe and wash your hair with if you make the effort. I always follow the if it’s yellow….mantra. OH and when it’s really cold and it seems like everyone has frozen pipes…the one place in town (actually the next town over) that always has running water is the laundromat! They also have a really nice bathroom and the owner doesn’t mind if we refill our water bottles there or wash up and wash our hair.
You’d totally win the “I’m Badass” water challenge, if we had one.
Thanks for the “award” a great prize would be for a bunch of people to gather this spring and help me dig that water line down deeper. The idiot who installed it didn’t put it down deep enough. So the plan is to dig down and install a PVC conduit pipe to run the water line through and make sure that some of heat tape runs into the conduit so that it warms the whole tube. Any one who wants to come help dig, let me know! You can get some nice hiking in while you’re here I live at the foot of the white mountains.
[…] 10 Ways to Green Your Bathroom - Luckily for mother Earth, being green is still in. There are ways we can all do our part to get in on the action, and there are chances to conserve and reduce in almost every area of our lives. Tiny Choices presents these ways you can do your part even when it comes to the nitty-gritty of the grittiest of places - the bathroom. Give one or more of these a try - maybe even recycled toilet paper (not as gross as it might sound). –JEREMY S. GRIFFIN […]
Those are all great tips, it might help a lot of people especially those who have just moved in a new house! Nice tips :)
Thanks, Asdfing! Let us know if you choose to implement any, and how it goes!
Thanks for these great tips , also if you want some great bathroom design tips , please follow this link : http://www.nouveaubathrooms.com
[…] when I wrote “Ten Ways to Green Your Bathroom,” I seem to have been woefully negligent on how deal with drains. So in the spirit of making […]
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