Green Audit Your Bathroom

jchait — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:34:44 -0400

This week we've been taking a look a green audits for the home and garden. So far we've seen:

Today we're going to take a closer look at how to green up your bathroom. The bathroom is a great room to green audit because you use it daily, many times daily in fact, so it's a room where small changes can create big differences.

Look at your water habits: Do you take 30 minute showers? You really shouldn't; that's pretty wasteful of water. If you find you’re having trouble taking shorter showers you might want to try a timer. Place a basic kitchen timer on your counter, and set it for ten minutes - how fast can you wash.

Do you take baths?: Baths can take up more than twice the water of a typical shower. Saving water will save you both energy and water.

Check for leaky toilets: Remove the lid of your toilet tank, add some bright food coloring. Wait about 20 minutes, go back and check around the base of your toilet. If you see colored liquid you have a leak. Some leaks are easy to fix with a basic hardware store kit, and other leaks require a plumber; check at your hardware store to see which option you'll need.

Look at bathroom packaging and supplies: Are you buying organic, animal testing free, natural products in recyclable containers? Recyclable toothbrushes and razors? Do you buy too many bathroom items? Trust me you don't need eight face creams, that's just a waste of packaging.

Do you re-use your towel?: You don't need to rewash your towel every time. That's an energy and water waste.

Check your shower head: You should have a low-flow shower head installed. You'll still have a nice shower but save lots of water.

To learn more read:

[Image recycled toothbrush via Recycline]

Green Audit Your Cleaning Supplies

jchait — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:24:00 -0400

Cleaning supplies are a good place to start if you want to green audit your house. Cleaning supplies are easy to sort, and an important thing to audit because many cleaners are chock full of harmful chemicals.

Green auditing your cleaning supplies is a three step process:

1) Sort cleaning supplies.

2) Get rid of toxic cleaners.

3) Find good alternative green cleaning supplies.

First of all you need to go room to room, locating all cleaners. Usually, we keep cleaning supplies in the kitchen, under sinks, in the laundry room, in the garage, and in the bathroom. Don't forget weird little cleaning supplies like air fresheners you keep in bedrooms.

Here's a break down of how green your cleaners should be. As you sort you should read labels and look for known poisons and toxic chemicals.

Laundry area and kitchen soaps - you want to make sure laundry detergents and dishwashing detergents are bleach and phosphate free. You also want to make sure they contain natural surfactants; traditional surfactants are made from petroleum. Look for detergents that are biodegradable - although note that this is a pretty flexible term, with no certification. It's best to look for the phosphate / bleach free info first.

Basic household cleaners - avoid ammonia, bleach, lye, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, phenol, and other nasty sounding ingredients. Honestly, I'm sort of the mindset that if you can't pronounce it, or you don't recognize it, it's likely no good. That's just a general observation though.

Packaging - Just because it's green, doesn't mean they packaged it well. There are packaging differences among say, the greener detergents. Choose packaging that's recyclable, reusable, and not double wrapped.

Safely discard any toxic chemicals (talk to your local recycling center to learn more). Then create your own homemade and safe alternative cleaning supplies. To learn more about safe cleaners read:

Tomorrow we'll move on to another green room audit.

green audit cleaning

Green Audit Your Bathroom

Green Audit Your Cleaning Supplies