American Standard Advanced Clean 100 SpaLet Shower Toilet has auto flush, AirShield deodorizer, … [+]
Photo courtesy of American Standard
The toilet paper shortage across the US, while currently dominating headlines, may be temporary, but it might be worth taking a look at the bigger picture surrounding toilet paper usage both stateside and globally. In other parts of the world, toilet paper is not an essential part of the bathroom experience – there is a different, hygienic way to cleanse using bidets.
The use of toilet paper has had an environmental impact in the United States, more so than in European and Asian countries. According to Statista, The United States consumes more toilet paper than any other country. On average, an American can be expected to use 141 rolls per year as compared with Italy, for example, where it is 70 rolls a year. Statistics sighted by the The Alternative Daily, “Americans use over 30 million rolls of toilet paper in just one day. This is equivalent to 200,000 trees, 250 million gallons of water, 160 million KWH of electricity and produces almost 90 million pounds of greenhouse gases.
Several manufacturers are minimizing the water usage in their toilets. The flow rate for bidet water on several of Kohler’s Intelligent Toilets and Cleansing seat products is 0.08 – 0.11 gal/min depending on the pressure setting selected, allowing users to control water usage. Additionally, Kohler says their products have energy save modes and intelligent software settings to further minimize the impact to monthly water and electrical bills.
Kohler’s C3-455 Cleansing Seat has a streamlined design that fits most elongated toilets and uses … [+]
Photo courtesy of Kohler
In other areas of the world, like Asia and Europe, bidets are a common fixture in bathrooms – and it’s something more Americans are beginning to consider. There are currently a large variety of shower toilets, bidets and bidets that can be integrated into the toilet.
The SpaLet Bidet Seat 3.0 can be added to any traditional elongated toilet. It has instant heat … [+]
Photo courtesy of American Standard
According to a a recent survey commissioned by Kohler Co. and conducted online by The Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults, “Almost 2/3rds of Americans (63%) would be interested in their home toilet having a personal cleansing feature, and this is even higher among adults ages 18-34 (75%) and parents of kids under 18 (nearly 4 out of 5, or 77%). “
Shower toilets can be a bit pricey, but bidet alternatives are much more reasonably priced. At American Standard, their shower toilet is $4000 and their SpaLet add-on bidet seats (available in either electrical or non-electrical attachments) range from about $128 to $1600.
Kohler’s Veil Intelligent Toilet combines cleanliness and comfort with a self-cleaning … [+]
Photo courtesy of Kohler
Duravit says in addition to the other environmental advantages, “Duravit promotes sustainability through it’s shower-toilet solutions (and across all bathroom and wellness fixtures it offers) by designing for longevity. Often times in the conversation around sustainability, not enough emphasis is placed on the longevity of the object at hand. Duravit’s SensoWash® shower-toilets are built to last the test of time.”
Just this past week from March 10 to March 16, the American Standard website saw a 168% increase in organic traffic for bidets and shower-bidet pages over the previous week. According to the company, their overall website over the same period was flat. This shows that people are specifically looking for bidet information. American Standard is currently offering special pricing on Spalet purchases made on their site directly. Their bidets have seen an increased sales this month compared to previous months
Kohler too has seen an eight times growth surge on cleansing seat offerings, which include it’s exclusive self-cleaning stainless-steel wand that uses UV light for automatic sanitizing.
This is Duravit’s HappyD2 toilet with their SensoWash® Starck designed shower-toilet seat.
Photo courtesy of Duravit
While the current landscape is certainly a challenging time, the toilet paper situation we’re currently experiencing does also shine a light on the bigger picture as it relates to Americans’ bathroom habits.