The Toilet

The toilet uses a lot of water with just how much depending on how often we flush the toilet. Old toilets use around 15-20 liters/each flush, newer models use around 3-6 liters. It is possible to put bricks in the water container of old toilets in order to reduce the amount of water being used.

In any case, when we have to buy a new toilet, it is a good idea to buy a water-saving toilet. With a water-saving toilet the flushing button is divided into two parts, marked with a whole ring and a half ring respectively. If you push the half ring button the toilet flushes and uses half of the water container but if you push the whole ring button there is a complete flush using all the water in the container.

Now, there are also all kinds of composting-toilets available on the Icelandic market. Their distribution on the market has however, been limited. They are nevertheless without doubt the environmentally most ingenious solution because the sewage does not have to be flushed away into the ocean. Instead the excrement turns into a useful fertilizer in a few months.

Even if we only have access to an ordinary toilet there are still many things we can do to improve the environmental situation; for instance, not putting strong chemicals or other toxins in the toilet that can easily end up in nature, using toilet paper sparingly and choosing environmentally labelled toilet paper.