Restrooms generate a substantial amount of waste, and as more companies strive to lower their carbon footprints, examining restroom waste is a good place to start to improve corporate environmental efforts.

“Restrooms are high-traffic areas that generate significant waste, yet they’re often the last place businesses consider when building a sustainability strategy,” said Tahnie Gilliland, Sofidel marketing specialist.

To help companies reduce waste and support sustainability efforts, Sofidel shared tips for facility managers:

Choose certified paper products. Choose paper towels and toilet paper made from trusted third-party organizations, such as Green Seal or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to ensuring you are supporting responsible sourcing practices and limit reliance on virgin fibers, which it accelerates deforestation, consuming high amounts of energy and water.

Sort waste properly. In an office with 250 people on one floor in an office building, and only paper towel dispensers in the washroom, each person uses an average of 2.6 paper towels per visit, visiting the restroom about three times daily. This totals an average of 750 visits to the washroom and 1950 paper towels used per day. With this amount of volume, effective recycling practices are a must. Place well-labeled bins in accessible areas to encourage guests to dispose of the waste appropriately.

Switch to automatic dispensers. Touchless paper towel dispensers help reduce paper by premeasuring each use, eliminating over-pulling and over-use that can add up quickly. traffic restrooms.

Educate staff and visitors. Make your sustainability goals known to encourage support from staff and guests. Display simple recycling instructions and equip custodial teams and staff with training to improve recycling efficiency and reduce waste on a daily basis.

Use high-capacity products. High-capacity paper towel and toilet paper rolls last longer, do more, and require fewer changeouts, which helps reduce packaging waste without diminishing a consistent supply. Review usage data to better manage inventory and labour to reduce waste wherever you can.

Companies benefit from reducing restroom waste by improving their sustainability efforts, lowering labour costs, improving inventory management efficiency, and enhancing brand reputation. Using these tips to improve restroom operations is one way that companies can move forward in reducing their carbon footprint.