… keeps the grime, dirt, dust and b.o. away. A shower a day is also more water-efficient than a bath. But, Eco-Women, you ask, How can I make my shower even greener each day as I get cleaner?
By replacing your plastic or vinyl shower curtain next time around with a planet-friendly cloth shower curtain, you’ll save time and money. A typical plain plastic liner will run you $3.00 at a big box store, a patterned plastic curtain ranges in price from $15-50, depending on the style and brand. Plastic liners have their problems, however, petroleum waste and pollution aside. They tend to mold and mildew, requiring regular scrubbing, cleaning and replacing. They billow out when the water hits them and the warm air mixes with colder air in the room. The billowing causes leakage. Plastic rips easily, especially when kids use the shower, so they need to be replaced. Plastic and vinyl shower curtains give off some pretty strong and sometimes toxic odors, too.
What are your greener shower curtain options?
Organic cotton is one. No billowing, no wrinkling, no molding, no mildewing, easy cleaning by tossing in the wash with other laundry. They’re heavy enough to hang alone without a “decorative” curtain” and will last a lifetime. Their price ranges from $35 going on up to $100, which isn’t too shabby. The only con? Organic cotton shower curtains mostly come in “white” or “natural”–finding any other color is a challenge.
Hemp is another green option. (Don’t sweat it–this is the industrial hemp used to make ropes and fabrics, you can’t roll up this shower curtain and smoke it. Well, you could, but the only buzz you’d get would be your smoke alarm going off.) Hemp shower curtains offer all the benefits of organic cotton, including lasting a lifetime, but you’ll pay at least twice as much for a hemp curtain than you will for cotton. They also mostly come in “white” or “natural,” but some color and pattern alternatives are available.
The final eco option we found was a company named Vita Futura offering shower curtains made from PEVA, an eco-friendly, non-vinyl chlorine based product. They’re recognized in The Green Guide and their prices start at $28 for a huge range of colors and patterns. We couldn’t find out if they’d last you a lifetime, but they seem to have the same durability as higher-end vinyl and plastic shower curtains.
One other possibility is to buy a regular cloth shower curtain (not organic cotton or hemp). Recycla’s family switched over from vinyl to cotton years and years ago and has never had any problems with leaking. The family bathrooms have just a single white cotton shower curtain in each, but you could also use that as a liner and then hang a prettier curtain in front of it.
Get cleaner, greener, by investing in an environmentally-friendly shower curtain, next time round. Enviro-Girl casts her vote for organic cotton. Recycla opts for conventional cotton over yucky vinyl and doesn’t feel any shame that she didn’t buy organic cotton. What do you choose?
Posted in house stuff | Tags: house stuff, shower curtains
