Zero Waste Bathroom Guide

Achieving and maintaining a zero waste bathroom is easier than you might think. There are so many ways to go plastic free for good and simplify your bathroom routine while you’re at it. Most of the ideas below are easy transitions to make and result in significantly less waste produced from the tiniest room in your house.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be happy to minimize the number of bathroom products you keep around and also be confident that you’re avoiding many of the chemicals that are harmful to both your body and the environment.

From your toothbrush to your toilet paper, I’ll guide you through exactly how to reduce your footprint with these zero waste bathroom essentials.

Let’s go!

Toilet Paper
The average person uses 57 sheets of toilet paper per day. Americans alone consume 12 billion rolls of toilet paper per year (that’s 50% more than Europeans). The production of toilet paper worldwide requires 27,000 trees daily. Not to mention, tons of those rolls are packaged in plastic packaging. Here’s how you can choose Earth-friendlier options:

When it’s yellow, let it mellow. We all know how the second part of that rule of thumb goes. The sheer fact that we have the privilege to pee and poo in clean water (unlike a lot of the rest of the world) is ridiculous. I think it’s a pretty easy step to skip a few flushes here and there to save a bit of water. Plus, your water bill (and your wallet) will thank you!
Choose individual rolls that come in paper. That way you’re avoiding excess plastic wrap. Yes, this means you can’t buy large quantities of toilet paper at once, but do you really need to?
Install a bidet on your toilet. If you want to go a step further and reduce the overall amount of toilet paper you use, try installing a bidet. There are techy full-seat bidet replacements with numerous controls and customizable settings. Or there are slightly less serious bidet attachments that fit between your existing toilet seat and toilet.
Choose cloth over disposable diapers: No, I’m not recommending you start wearing cloth diapers (unless you’re not yet potty-trained :P). More and more parents are using cloth diapers again and, while I can’t comment from experience, it is an alternative to disposable diapers. Disposable diapers are the third largest consumer item found in landfills today.

Hand Soap