Turning Your Bathroom Green Is a Good Way to Help The Environment

Bathrooms hold a surprising number of opportunities to green your home, including reducing water use, protecting indoor air quality through moisture control and ventilation, purchasing environmentally preferable building products for bathroom renovation, and using environmentally preferable cleaning and personal care products.

Below are ways to green your bathroom:

Green Practices for the Bathroom

• Use reusable products instead of on-time-use disposable products (e.g., paper towels, disposable toilet scrubbers, disposable facial cleaning towels). This can save you money, and reduce the environmental impacts related to producing, transporting, and disposing of single-use products. For cleaning chores, try to use durable and reusable items such as mops and reusable rags or sponges, rather than disposable (one-time-use) products like paper towels.
• Buy Recycled. "Close the loop" by choosing products that have recycled content, such as toilet paper and paper towels. These materials perform as well if not better than virgin materials and buying recycled content products helps sustain the market for recycled materials.
• Choose products with minimal packaging. Packaging materials account for a significant amount of the trash we generate, and consume resources and energy to produce. Consider buying items in bulk or those with minimal (or no) packaging, or products in concentrated form.
• Choose recyclable products. Identify items and/or packaging that can be recycled, and then be sure to recycle them! Our landfills are full of recyclable products that were discarded.
• Use less-toxic and non-toxic cleaning products, personal care products, and pest control products. When using a toxic or hazardous product, read the instructions on its label carefully, and use the smallest amount necessary. 
• Purchase a low-VOC shower curtain and shower liner. The "new" smell of plastic, vinyl-based shower curtains is actually the scent of volatile organic compounds that can harmful to your health. (Source: EPA)