Being more eco-friendly — one flush at a time

As I scrolled Facebook and Twitter on April 22, I was inspired by everyone’s environmental stewardship; so I went shopping on Earth Day.

On the list: a new eco-friendly toilet and faucet for our rec room bathroom. At seven years old, it was time for a bit of a facelift anyway, so I figured I’d pull double duty and look for products marked with the WaterSense symbol (which tells me its water consumption has been measured by an independent third party).

According to The Home Depot, a family of four like mine can save more than $110 each year by upgrading old toilets. For example, replacing a standard 1.6 gallon-per-flush toilet with a WaterSense-labeled high-efficiency model can reduce water use by 20 per cent (or more) in the average family home.

Faucets, too; apparently, the average household can reduce its water consumption by 500 gallons each year per faucet for even more savings. Not to mention all that do-gooding for the planet.

By my estimation, we’ll make back our small investment in the first year alone. Then hundreds more in the years to come.

This was, by far, one of the least expensive makeovers we’ve done in our home. And yet, what an impact it may have well beyond our front door.

Here’s what we bought:

• Glacier Bay bath faucet ($89.98) — I love a good faucet, and this one has a great contemporary design with a really attractive price tag
• Glacier Bay drop-in sink ($38.98) — I didn’t really need a new sink, but the new toilet is white and our sink was a creamier ivory tone
• Glacier Bay dual-flush toilet ($144 in-store, even though it’s $158 online) — I wanted a dual-flush, comfort height toilet under $200 and the sales associate said this was a good one that ticked all my boxes

With tax, it all came to $308.44. Not bad! And frankly, I wouldn’t want to spend much more down there because it’s really just the four of us who use it. And maybe a few of the kids’ friends from time to time. It’s tucked away in our finished basement and I have no intention of ever making it much fancier down there.

The more modern look of the toilet and faucet, plus the whiter overall look the new products provided, really did make our eco-friendly bathroom makeover look like a proper makeover. Oh, and that comfort-height toilet? GAME-CHANGER.

I’m so happy with the result. I hope the earth is, too.

DISCLAIMER: The Home Depot Canada provided me with a gift card to offset some of the costs of this project. They did not specify which products or brands I had to use, so the concept/design is all mine. As are my opinions.