Everyone sits on the throne, no matter how rich or successful. England has a history of loo jokes (they even made a Carry On film about it). But if you take one small subject like the toilet, it’s interesting to delve into the history of toilets, how they are made today (not much has changed) and how much better they could be. So in this post, we’ll cover the lot – how to save water, composting toilets and washable loo roll (both not as bad as they sound), how to clean your toilet (naturally) and improving public stinky toilets!
This ecological restroom is made from local wood with natural ventilation and sunlight. Energy-saving lights illuminate outside at night, to be visible to passers-by. The Golden Public Toilet (near Wembley Stadium) includes four urinals, a disabled-friendly toilet and concealed tank behind the mirror (which uses rainwater to flush). Way to go!
The History of the Toilet
The modern toilet has only been around a few hundred years, when watchmaker Alexander Cummings designed an s-shaped pipe to keep out foul odours (before sewers were installed in London, parliament had to close down quite often, as the stench was so bad!) Back in Roman times, the invention of a public bathroom was met with wonder, with friends chatting as they wiped their bottoms with a short wooden handle and sponge on the end (where the phrase ‘getting hold of the wrong end of the stick’ comes from) If you’ve ever visited museums to teach children how we used to live, you’ll have seen houses with modern planks with holes outside windows, where people would go to the loo (hopefully with no-one walking by underneath!)
As people grew more affluent, people began installing toilets (though many had them in the garden which you still see in old houses with an ‘outdoor lav’). But things got worse before they got better, as populations exploded, leading to 100 people or so in cities sharing one toilet. This led to overloaded sewers and brown water coming out of drinking taps, which led to tens of thousands of people dying of cholera. Finally laws were passed to bring about the hygienic toilets we see today.
Switch to Eco-Friendly Bathroom Tissue
Rather than support the tearing down of Boreal forests (where the moose and elk live near the North Pole), switch to online subscription brands that deliver toilet paper made from recycled paper in plastic-free packaging. Less likely to clog drains (than luxury brands) and more affordable and local than bamboo, these are also good for hotels/restaurants that buy in bulk. Two good brands are Serious Tissues (each roll has 50% more than supermarket brands and is free from dyes and perfumes).
Who Gives a Crap? (50% of profits go to help build toilets in developing countries). This fun company was crowdfunded by a young team, one of whom sat on a toilet until people donated enough to set it up! The company also makes a more luxurious bamboo toilet paper, all are sold in fun funky packaging. Free from scents and dyes, this paper is biodegradable and safe for septic tanks.
Washable toilet paper may sound vile, but actually most people only use it for after pee visits! Similar to washable baby wipes (stash in a wet box), Leave No Trace is made with organic cotton (overlocked at the edges, to prevent fraying). One sheet does the work of 3 sheets of disposable paper. Then just place in the cotton bag, and wash in the machine.
How to Clean Your Toilet (naturally)
Get rid of Microfiber (plastic) cloths and invest in a couple of biodegradable sponges to clean your toilet. These can be washed again and again, then cut up and composted after use (don’t wash cars like suggested as this sends oily water down the drain, use a waterless car wash).
Modern toilets are pretty easy to clean, as long as you control what’s going down them! Smells and skid marks etc, tend to come from diets rich in greasy food, meat and alcohol. A ‘good poo’ should be easy to pass (no reading newspapers on the loo needed!), not smelly and float like a log! That’s because to make good poo, you need to drink water and eat fibre (from plants). Drinking enough water also leads to urine the colour of white wine (dark yellow means you need more water and less beer!) Don’t worry if your pee turns pink after eating beetroot, but do get things checked out if you find blood in your pee or stools.
You don’t need toxic toilet cleaners or bleach (harmful to the planet and lethal if mixed with any other cleaner). Wrap securely and dump the lot, your home will be a lot safer for it. Also switch to a plastic-free toilet brush to avoid microplastics harming the oceans when they break off, and don’t use artificial fragrances, for the same reason. For men/boys who miss their aim (!) a little cleaning vinegar to laundry removes the pee smell.
Choose unscented brands around babies, children and pets (or for pregnancy/nursing). For others, use biodegradable essential oils. For dogs who try to drink water from toilet bowls, keep the lid down while you wait for products to work (and esp. avoid toxic Borax).
Houseplants don’t ‘clean the air’ (a 30-year old NASA myth). If you use them, see toxic houseplants to avoid near pets (inc. lilies, sago palm and cheese plants – just brushing a tail against them can harm). Don’t use disinfectants near pets as they often lick their paws after walking on surfaces. Erin Heights Vet Hospital says Dettol destroys bacteria walls, and Veterinary Poisons Information Service says Zoflora can cause ulcers.
Bide is made from coconut, baking soda, salt and essential oils. Sold with refill options (and biodegradable cloths), the company gives at-home jobs to homeless people, people, refugees, women with convictions, and those recovering from addiction. Free from plastic-packaging. Toilet Freshening Bombs are dropped into the bowl to fizz, to remove limescale and dirt. Infused with peppermint, lavender and eucalyptus, these leave your bowl smelling fresh and anti-microbial properties eradicate germs. Follow with:
Toilet Cleaning Scrub uses Epsom salt to gently remove stubborn stains, while citric acid and baking soda tackle limescale. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon around the pan and in the bowl, leave for 15 minutes then scrub with a toilet brush. Scented with grapefruit and eucalyptus.
Brown stains in the pan are usually caused by iron/manganese, from hard water. To remove, pour a cup of cleaning vinegar in the pan and scrub with a brush. Leave for a while, then add a cup of baking soda, then follow with another cup of vinegar. It will fizz, so leave to work for a few hours then scrub away the stains.
ElmKind Natural Toilet Cleaner (Devon) is made with natural biodegradable ingredients, scented with peppermint oil. Sold in a metal bottle, the first bottle includes a stainless steel pourer, then buy refills that work out more affordable. Profits help charities that protect animal welfare and the oceans.
Mix Green Clean is an organic toilet mix in a tin. Free from bleach and scented with lavender, place a teaspoon in a jug and mix with warm water, then leave for an hour. Add to the toilet and leave to work, before flushing.
Authentic House Toilet Bombs (Wales) sell enough bombs in a box to last 36 weeks. Just drop one in to watch it fizz. Scented with tea tree oil, made with baking soda.
Cleaning Toilets with Electric Water!
Buzz (Australia) is a revolutionary cleaning system that hopefully will reach our shores soon. It uses water, vinegar and salt to create an electric current by plugging in to a USB. This creates hypochlorous acid (used for eye, wound and vet care) which can kill viruses and is as strong as bleach. Yet gentle enough to clean fruits and veggies (the natural swimming pool odour has no fragrance).
To use, just squeeze in one of the activators and each one lasts 3 weeks, working out around 50p a week to use. It cleans all surfaces (won’t corrode like vinegar) and can also be used to clean changing pad, nappy pails, baby toys and clean up pet accidents on rugs, toys and bedding. Use with baking soda as a mild abrasive for stubborn stains (dry with a cloth, as there are no chemical drying accelerants).
How to Make Modern Toilets Better
Even though most homes now have a modern flushing toilet, the basic design has not changed much in hundreds of years. This means that older cisterns waste a colossal amount of water, creating nearly all the make-up of water bills. Don’t flush anything down the loo other than toilet paper (luxury versions can clog drains). Don’t flush tampons, cotton buds, condoms or baby wipes. This is good for our marine friends (who don’t get them landing in their oceans) and also saves you a plumber’s call-out charge (and possibly flooded garden).
Modern cisterns need no help. But if you have an older toilet and can’t afford to replace it, use a Hippo Flush Bag (also in a slimline version). It costs a few pounds (some councils offer them free) or Buffaloo Flush Bag costs just 99p. These are basically the safer version of putting a brick in your cistern, and save up to 3 litres of water for each flush. If the 90% of older cisterns in the UK had one installed, it would save 600 million litres of daily and £25 a year on water bills (£3 per employee – £3000 for a company with 1000 staff). The small hole ensures fresh water replaces stale with each flush – installed already in Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and the White House.
Another way to reduce your toilet water loss and bills, is to check if you have a leaky loo. Not getting this fixed can waste hundreds of litres of water, and cost £300 more in bills. Wait 15 minutes after you use the loo, then dry the back of the pan (inside) and place a sheet of toilet paper (see above link for image of where) and wait 3 hours. If the paper is wet, there’s a leak. A small plumbing job is in order.
Install A Modern Water-Saving Toilet
If you can afford it , the best way to save money is to replace older cisterns with new ones (also quieter). Armitage Shanks Sandringham (around £100) has a water-saving dual flush, lever or push button flush and optional security fastener to prevent lid removal (though who goes stealing toilet lids is anyone’s guess).
Propelair Toilet (above) has completely reinvented the toilet, using 84% less water by using a two-section cistern (one for air, one for water). Close the lid to seal, then air blows activated water and pushes out the contents, for a powerful flush. This takes 3 seconds, and you can flush again in 30 seconds (subject to water pressure).
The Hand Held Bidet is a portable alternative to expensive bidets. Made from stainless steel, it connects to your water supply and with the touch of a button, you get a stream or spray in two modes (you can also use it to spray soiled nappies and incontinence pants). Toto WASHLET Toilet (used in over 65% of Japanese toilets) combines a toilet and bidet in one, which cleans itself inside and out before and after use. The jet extends to an angle, to stop poo falling on it!
A Beginner’s Guide to Composting Toilets
Composting toilets are not as disgusting as they sound, because once you take the water traps out, you usually take out the smell. Suitable for off-grid homes (and allotments, church yards etc), The Compost Toilet Handbook is an illustrated manual to explain the biology from someone with 40 years experience of building them. He also shows how composting toilets are solving issues in countries without sanitation and he also covers how to compost in cold weather.
So here’s a quick science lesson; when you mix urine and poo together, it creams ‘blackwater’. Modern composting toilets use urine diverters and bowls to separate the two, with air filters to dry everything out. The solids dehydrate into compost and urine is diluted to pour down drains (don’t pour it on plants as it often contains medicines and pollutants – even if diluted, earthworms will give you nasty looks).
Once the compost is ready, ‘humanure’ can be used to grow fruits and vegetables (though you are not legally allowed to sell it without approval from the Environmental Agency). If done well, composting toilets smell more like ‘earth in a forest’ rather than the vile smells that often come from public loos. Ensure urine does not share greywater sources (like sinks) as they may contain skin cells, grease or fat). Do not grow food that has been in touch with animal poo. Interested? Visit Natsol that offers modern composting toilets, including ones for wheelchair access.
Ideas to Improve Public Toilets
Most public bathrooms are smelly, because they use old cisterns with water traps, and have little airflow and few staff to clean them. There is a campaign for all public restrooms to be free, as elderly and disabled people often stop drinking water (or don’t go out) so they don’t have to worry about visiting the loo. Councils say it costs £20K to run each public toilet, but spending a penny is a public right, and costs could be saved in other ways like installing waterless urinals that save £400 in water/sewage charges each year (they also don’t smell and need no plumbing nor louvred windows). Councils could also save money by using Eco Hand Dryers and sensor taps (that turn off when not in use (also stop flooding). Not providing loos also loses tourism income. Local shops, cafes and hotels can join the community toilet scheme (let anyone use their loo) and you’ll get listed on the Great British Toilet Map!
Worldwide, the public toilet index shows Iceland offers most public bathrooms (56 per 100,000 people compared to 15 per 100,000 in England – Manchester offers just 3!) In Finland, self-cleaning toilets have buttons on the wall and Swiss toilets (like everything else in Switzerland) are spotlessly clean, but they are not free (and you have to pay more if you’re female?) You also have to press different buttons, depending on whether you pee or poo!
Another issue is making public toilets more accessible. Changing Places wants 12 square metres of space either side for carers (and drop-down rails), a non-slip floor, height-adjustable changing benches, a tracking hoist system and a large waste bin. It’s worth buying a Radar key which costs £6 to access 400 locked toilets nationwide. And ask your GP for a (free) Uribag (this looks like a latex film canister so you can pee and empty onto the kerb, then fold it up to wash at home). Or buy a pocket-sized Popaloo that turns urine into biodegradable gel, and assembles in seconds to normal loo height.
Homeless people often use public loos to wash and clean their teeth, and sometimes have no choice but to use the street, if there are no local hostels. San Francisco’s Pit Stop is the answer here: accessible self-cleaning toilets that don’t cost a cent to run, paid for with local adverts.
