According to Scientific American[1], Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper a year, which translates to about 15 million trees. That is a tremendous amount of trees, most of which can be saved if Americans converted to using a bidet toilet seat. After using a bidet, you can use the built-in warm air dry to help you with drying. Alternatively, you can use a few squares of toilet paper for drying purposes. Although using bidet seats may not totally eliminate the need for toilet paper, they could easily reduce toilet paper consumption by 80%.
So reducing paper waste is one of the obvious reasons why you should get a bidet seat. But that’s not the only reason why you should get one.
Water is the universal solvent. Water is more effective at cleaning than using dry paper. Like when you wash your dishes – you don’t just start wiping your dirty dishes with a dry paper towel. That would be nonsensical. You always spray your dishes with water first before you clean them. The same can be said about cleaning your body. When you feel sweaty or dirty, you take a shower to wash yourself.
To better illustrate how much more effective water is at cleaning, we prepared the following video:
So then, isn’t it a wonder – why people use dry toilet paper to clean themselves after using the restroom? How come when you wash anything else, you always wash with water, but when it comes to using the bathroom your actions totally change?
Well, at bidetsPLUS – we’ve had a long time to think about it and we think it comes down to two things: (1) Americans are conditioned since childhood to use toilet paper. It’s automatic for us. And (2) Americans lack awareness that alternatives to toilet paper are available, e.g., using a bidet toilet seat.
We’re not trying to single out Americans here, but America is, by far – the world’s largest consumer of toilet paper. But bidet usage is generally the preferred method as soon as you leave North America. They are common in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. Italy, France, England, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Venzuela…. the list goes on and on. In these countries – using a bidet is the norm and it’s considered strange if you don’t have one. The rest of the world has been using bidets for years and years.
Fortunately times are changing and bidet awareness has been increasing over the last few years in America. We have a lot of customers who tried a bidet at a friend’s or relative’s house, prompting them to get one of their own. Bidet seats are also getting more press coverage lately, being recently featured in the Wall Street Journal and ABC News. So the lack of awareness part is changing.
Now – if we can just start teaching our children to use water instead. It may take a generation, but it is a behavior that will be corrected.
In summary – not only are bidet seats more eco-friendly, they’re more people-friendly too.