5 Ways to Green the Bathroom
November 5, 2009 | Filled Under Eco-Friendly Bathroom
With bathroom water use and toxic chemical use, turning your bathroom into an eco area can be the perfect starting point for a green home. The water usage in the bathroom and cleaning chemicals found in most bathrooms are the easiest tasks to tackle in an effort to green the bathroom. Here are 5 great ideas to help you create a green bathroom that is beautiful and eco-friendly.
Install Low-Flow Showerheads- With the shower being the largest single user of hot water in the bathroom, installing a low flow showerhead can help save water consumption by 25% to 60%. Low flow showerheads range from $40 or so and up and just one low-flow showerhead can save you $145 on your utility bill. Another way to begin saving water is to take shorter showers. Even if you cut your shower down by one or two minutes for each member of your home, it is a set to reducing water usage.
Invest in a Low-Flow Toilet- Toilets are by far the main source of water use in the home, accounting for approximately 30% of residential indoor water consumption. Replacing an older toilet with a low-flow toilet can save 9,000 gallons of water a year.
Dump the not so green cleaners- If you are not using a green cleaning product your bathroom could be full of harsh chemicals. They may seem to clean bathrooms, but they leave behind unseen toxic chemicals that can be hazardous. Commercial cleaning products used to clean tubs and toilets are not only harmful to your health but to the environment. There are many environment-conscious brands of cleaning supplies you can use to get the bathroom clean without the toxins. Shaklee, Seventh Generation and Ecover all have green cleaning products made from natural resources.
For an even cheaper method of green cleaning, common household ingredients, like baking soda and vinegar will clean most everything in the bathroom!
Replace vinyl shower curtains- Vinyal shower curtains and liners are often made from difficult-to-recycle PVC and PVC-coated curtains offgas plasticizers. PVC has been linked to potential hormone disruptors, so you want to stay away from these products. Not to mention the mildew that loves to build up on vinyal shower curtains and liners.
Instead try an organic cotton or hemp shower or curtain with a nylon liner. When they become dirty, simply toss them into the washing machine. Organic cotton and hemp shower curtains not only cut back on synthetic materials in the bathroom, they also look better. You can find organic cotton shower curtains at Lifekind, Pottery barn and Healthy Home.
Replace multi bulb vanity lighting- Many bathrooms have vanity lighting that can hold up to 10 light bulbs. There is really no need to have multiple lights in a small area like a bathroom. Consider a new lighting system that accommodates 1 or 2 light bulbs. This will reduce the energy used in the bathroom, hence saving more money and lowering your energy impact.
During your bathroom greening, remember to use organic cotton bath towels or a microfiber hand towel instead of disposable paper towels. Don’t forget to use only eco-friendly bathroom tissue!
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I was looking for ways to green the bathroom and I got the ideas through this article. I like it that installing low shower heads can help save water. It is also a good option to invest in a low-flow toilet. Saving money is important for those on a budget. Cavity barriers are easy to fix.
They commented on using low flow shower heads and toilets
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I would think have double glazed windows wherever possible in the bathroom would help to keep it green. The increased insulation would theoretically keep the room warmer, meaning less money would need to be spent burning energy for the heating, and also narrow the need to have the shower running at a high temperature. Also, have a wet-room instead of a bathroom would minimise surplus materials, helping to reduce the bathrooms ‘footprint’.
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Keeping bathroom green is very important. If you are, updating your bathroom with greener amenities like bidets can help you achieve your conservation efforts.
We have a Zen theme bathroom and omit the use of PVC shower curtains. Instead, we use bamboo as a wall divider and it not only works well in keeping non-shower areas dry, bamboo (or any plants for that matter) also looks great in bathrooms as well.
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This is a cost effective approach to eco friendly homes. It is not difficult to run an efficient home. Other methods for improving the green of your bathroom is to reduce shower time to a maximum of 3 minutes and also consider some of the improved paint options for your walls.
I’ve always discouraged the use of multi-bulb vanity lighting. It might add that bit of glam in your bathroom, but the amount of energy it consumes and heat generated is not exactly very eco-chic.
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Little tips are also the most rewarding as it is achievable for most people without to much outlay. You can buy timers for your shower. This can be fun for the younger members of the house and also creates a positive attitude towards monitoring our water use. In some parts of the world water is at a premium, this resource must be looked after and treated as though it were gold. A shower should take no more than 2 minutes.
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People are more conscious on the way they live nowadays, their carbon footprints, etc. and good habits do start from home. Whether it is a bathroom or a kitchen, being able to live green in our world today is surely a gift we can pass down to the future generation.
Hi, these tips in the post are really good, they have given me the path to a beautiful green bathroom.
Vinegar works like a charm on tough stains. I use it to remove fresh stains on my carpet and it takes everything right off. Add one part vinegar and one part water and then mix. Then I pour part of the solution on the carpet, take a tough bristle/scrubber and scrub, scrub, scrub. The stain comes right off and you can’t even tell anything was ever there. I like it because it is very eco-friendly and safe.
Always spot check the carpet, just in case. You don’t want it to bleed or lose color.
Fantastic advice and relevant to creating a Eco bathroom. The bathroom for me is a place of inspiration and provides you with a quiet, or not so quiet place for hope and confidence for the day ahead. To achieve this with reduce impact and yet attain a pleasant environment is awesome.
Great ideas! Also to reduce heating costs remove your heated towel rails and heat lights. Place a gorgeous area rug in the bathroom. Yes, I said rug in the bathroom. Use recycle materials for your new bench housing your tap ware and basin. It looks fantastic. Sure retain your central heating if you must, but use it wisely. Love the inspiration. I could rave for hours on this topic and provide many ideas for beautiful bathrooms at a fraction of the cost of purchasing new and paying 1000′s for a fitted nothing.
Little tips are also the most rewarding as it is achievable for most people without to much outlay. You can buy timers for your shower. This can be fun for the younger members of the house and also creates a positive attitude towards monitoring our water use. In some parts of the world water is at a premium, this resource must be looked after and treated as though it were gold. A shower should take no more than 2 minutes.
Wow, that’s really awe4some. Having an eco friendly bathroom certainly can contribute to a much greener earth.
And let’s not forget that old classic of ensuring you turn your tap off while brushing your teeth rather than leaving it running.
.-= Richard @ Eco Living Advice´s last blog ..How To Clean Your Clothes While Helping The Planet =-.
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The next time you buy bath towels, then buy towels made from bamboo fibers – rather than cotton.
Bamboo is a plant that is highly sustainable and is grown without the need for pesticides or fertilizers. It is a fast growing plant and can be harvested frequently in the way that we cut our lawns – it is not uprooted, so helping the soil. It produces about 10 times more crop than cotton from the same area of land. It also has a multitude of uses – and so the plant can be used with very little wastage.
Switching to bamboo bath towels will encourage the gowth of more bamboo – and so also encourage its use in a wider range of products.
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i think those 5 tips aren’t that hard, but i could see a great benefit from them.
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Nice tips. They’re very practical. Using fluorescent light bulbs is a great way to save and they’ve improved a lot over the years.
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A handy little tip also is to use a timer to regulate the amount of time you spend using a shower. Great also for the kids.
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