As stated in a recent press release from Waterless Co., the restroom is often overlooked as a facility becomes greener and more sustainable. Yet more water is used in restrooms than virtually any other area of a facility, and because water and energy are interconnected, water consumption increases the amount of energy necessary to power a facility.
 
In addressing this issue, Klaus Reichardt, CEO and president of Waterless Co Inc., offers the following suggestions to make commercial restrooms greener and more sustainable:

• Lighting: Restroom lighting is often on 24 hours a day. Install motion sensors to turn off lights when the restroom is not used.

• Lightbulbs: Replace conventional lightbulbs with energy-efficient lighting.

• Cleaning: Virtually all cleaning chemicals used for cleaning restrooms now have certified-green equivalents; use only green cleaning chemicals and products.

• Water faucets: Install sensors. Studies indicate sensors that turn water on only when needed can reduce water consumption by as much as 70 percent.

• Hand dryers: A public restroom used by 200 people a day may use enough paper towels to fill a six-foot-tall grocery sack. Provide hand towels or electric hand dryers to eliminate this waste.

• Fixtures: Install fixtures that surpass current federal mandates. Some new toilets use 1.28 gallons of water per flush, and no-water urinals save thousands of gallons of water per year per urinal. Current federal regulations require that toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush and urinals about 1 gallon per flush.

• Recyclables: Station recycling bins in restrooms. Many paper products used in restrooms can be recycled.

• Leaks: Search for leaks and fix them. Just one intermittent dripping faucet can waste 3 gallons of water per day, a total of 1,095 gallons a year.