Five ways to go green in your bathroom

Creative, time-saving, sustainable updates to make your newly renovated bathroom more user-friendly for friends and family — and for the environment.

support of this mission, USGBC provides homeowners and residential and commercial builders the opportunity to gain LEED points through their LEED programs. To learn more about how you can earn LEED points by making your bathroom more sustainable, read below about the Saniflo Sanicompact and Sanibest Pro.

Below are five sustainable changes you could make to your bathroom.

1.   Use natural materials

The use of sustainable materials is key in making your bathroom truly eco-friendly. It all begins with the manufacturer and where the materials are coming from. Popular eco-friendly products to create a stunning modernized bathroom can include glass, reclaimed wood, metal, bamboo, cork, and porcelain. When choosing your materials, consider whether the materials will serve a long-lasting purpose and can eventually be recycled.

The above items can be used as building materials or brought into your bathroom through other commonly used bathroom products. It’s now possible to find quality recyclable toilet paper, bamboo toothbrushes, reusable paper products such as cotton swabs, and towels made from 100% organic cotton.

Convenience is now intertwined with sustainability, offering consumers the opportunity to spend less and save time, all while safeguarding the planet.

2. Use a water-saving, dual-flush toilet system

Unfortunately, water is often badly wasted — even in everyday use — in large part because of older, high-consumption faucets, showerheads and toilets. Adding a bathroom to your home remains one of the most popular and rewarding home improvements you can make. But take it a step further by adding a water-saving toilet.

Saniflo has created innovative, eco-friendly, above-floor plumbing technology that allows for quick and easy installation with minimal hassle and mess in both residential and commercial applications. Highly focused on sustainability, Saniflo macerators and grinders will enable you to install plumbing practically anywhere in the home or in a small office or retail space.

But creating a bathroom throughout your house, on a second story, in a basement, a garage, or in a structure that sits on a slab traditionally requires cutting into concrete or flooring to create below-floor drainage. This task can be very costly, because it is difficult and time-consuming. Alternatively, Saniflo’s above-floor plumbing allows you to add a bathroom anywhere without busting through concrete or flooring, ultimately avoiding any major construction. 

San Diego homeowners Dino and Beth Gregorich recently created a stunning swimming pool half-bath with the Sanicompact dual-flush macerating system, converting an outdoor storage shed into a stylish and sustainable bathroom with the use of the Sanicompact.

“The dual-flush feature was particularly appealing,” says Dino Gregorich. The Sanicompact will flush solid waste with 1.28 gpf (4.8 lpf) and liquids with only 1 gpf.

“In San Diego, we pay a fortune for water, so we try to save as much as possible” he continues. “Ultra-low-flush, high-efficiency toilets are very important here.”

In addition, the Sanibest Pro, also a macerating toilet system, uses a smaller amount of water than conventional toilets: 1.28 gallons per flush vs. 1.6 gpf, but with no sacrifice in flushing power. With this product, you can feel confident that you are going green in your new bathroom. It is  also eligible for LEED certification, and recognized as water-saving by the EPA’s WaterSense program.

While the Sanicompact ​​will also discharge gray water from one other fixture — usually a sink — the more powerful Sanibest Pro can handle two other fixtures; e.g., a sink and a bathtub or a shower. This easy-to-install grinder system is a heavy-duty alternative that is ideal for more demanding, high-usage applications, such as public restrooms. The Sanibest Pro grinder system has been certified to American and Canadian Standards.

3. Natural light and energy efficient lighting

There are two practical and environmentally friendly ways to light up your bathroom. Natural light and LED light bulbs are a great way to modernize your room and provide a spa-like experience. The implementation of skylights in your bathroom...

●      ...offers solar heating and better ventilation.

●      ...reduces the risk of mildew and mold growth.

●      …puts to rest the financial burden of energy and maintenance costs.

While we’re on the subject, a great way to conserve energy and reduce costs are by installing LED light bulbs. The lifeline of LED lighting is much longer than the regular light bulb since they operate on low voltages.

4. Avoid Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are chemicals commonly found in water-based and solvent-based paints and coatings, often used for bathroom walls and sealant for shelves and vanities. These VOCs are seriously toxic for the environment, so it’s important to search for eco-friendly alternatives when buying paints, finishings, and coatings for your bathroom. The eco-friendly option has many benefits by having less impact on air quality, reducing allergy inducing-toxins, and is known for quick dry times.

5. Greenery

It’s not a myth that plants are the natural air-purifier and they’re the obvious choice when it comes to creating both an eco-friendly and spa-like environment. They stimulate a calming effect in a busy, sometimes condensed space. Placing plants around your bathroom seals the deal in making your space look eco-friendly.

Whatever the motivation for your renovation, there’s no doubt that by embracing these five sustainable solutions, you will create an eco-friendly bathroom that will make your home more comfortable, more healthy and more resource-efficient. Meanwhile, these energy-efficient and water-wise bathroom solutions can save you significant amounts of energy and water — and money!

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ABOUT SANIFLO
SFA SANIFLO U.S.A. – whose parent company originated macerating plumbing technology — offers a complete line of waste and drainage pumping systems for residential and commercial applications. Saniflo developed its innovative, “above-floor plumbing” technology more than a half-century ago and has led its commercialization worldwide. Today, the company markets macerating technology through 24 subsidiaries in 50 countries and has sold more than seven million units worldwide since 1958. Saniflo markets through independent sales agents throughout North America, and the product line is currently available at distributor and dealer locations throughout the United States and Canada.

For more information, contact Saniflo at 1-800-363-5874. Or visit the Saniflo website at saniflo.ca

For editorial assistance, including photography, contact John O’Reilly c/o GreenHouse Digital + PR: 815-469-9100 or [email protected].