A lot of us tend to neglect the bathroom when it comes to making our homes green and more eco-friendly. The bathroom is a part of the house as well, and so, deserves its share of green love as well. But how do you go about doing that? Well, here are some easy tips that will help you make your bathroom a greener haven.
Use water wisely
The first step to making your bathroom a green oasis involves using water wisely. In addition to minimizing water wastage, you need to find out ways to use less water as well. For instance, installing a low flow showerhead would reduce your water consumption by nearly 30% while installing an aerator on the faucets and showerheads would reduce the amount of liquid that that flows through these devices while maintaining the same pressure.
Gadgets like a grey water dispenser can collect the shower water in a container and use the same to water the plants in the garden. Installing a dual flush or low flush toilet will help reduce water wastage in the bathroom significantly.
Ditch the chemical cleaning products
A lot of household cleaning products that we use on a daily basis contain harmful chemicals. These include the bathroom cleaning products we use to clean the toilets and tubs as well. Your best way to ensure that these chemicals don’t find their way into your home is to opt for products that contain the label ‘Caution’ and not the one that contains the labels ‘warning’ and ‘danger/poison’.
In certain cases, you can even opt for homemade cleaning products. For instance, while baking soda can be used to unclog drains, vinegar can be used to remove stubborn stains on the walls.
Switch to natural bath products
In addition to being eco-friendly, natural bath products are more skin-friendly as well. So do yourself and the environment a great favor by switching over to natural soaps, shampoos and body washes, etc. Check the labels of these products to ascertain that they are indeed natural. Don’t just go by the claims as most of them are just hocus pocus. Rather than relying on the ingredients alone, check for health stamps made by renowned organizations that certify eco-friendly products. This will help you narrow down the truly natural products while pushing aside the fake ones.
Install a tankless water heater
Rather than installing a tanked water heater as is found in many households, consider installing a tankless water heater instead. A tankless water heater would require less energy to heat the same amount of water when compared to a tanked model. The tankless heater would also only heat water when it is needed and does not require a pilot light, thus reducing the CO2 emissions to a great extent while improving indoor air quality in the process.
Opt for reusable bathroom products
Rather than buying disposable bathroom products, consider buying ones that can be reused multiple times. Some of these include reusable towels and toilet bowl brushes. This will reduce the amount of waste you throw out every month. This, in turn, would also reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill every month.
Choose energy efficient lighting options
Incandescent light bulbs need more energy to burn. They also heat up the surroundings, thus forcing you to use more energy via the AC to cool the home. Switching to CFL or LEDs will prevent this from happening. In addition to reducing your electricity bill, this move would also reduce the demand placed on the power plants that use nonrenewable sources of energy to generate power.
The bathroom tends to be left out whenever the house is remodeled. If you are thinking of going green, then find out ways to infuse this change in the bathroom as well. You won’t regret it for sure.
