If you are a male, you have likely seen these waterless urinals, either by Sloan or Falcon. No water! That must save the company that installs them tons of money as well as be good for the environment, right? I knew there was a catch.
For those that have not used them, or for the female readers, my first problem with waterless urinals is the fact that they smell funny. With no water to flush away the waste, bathrooms with these urinals always have this slight odor of stale urine, and some even have a sewer odor (more on this later). There is also often "debris" left on them that never is flushed away as well. But here is the real catch that most don't know, these waterless urinals have special cartridges that need to be changed, according to the
manufacturer, every 7,000 uses. These cartridges cost $40 each. Lets do some simple math. I don't have actual bathroom stats, but lets say an establishment has 4 of these, is open 15 hours a day, and each urinal is used 15 times an hour. That is 225 times per day, per urinal, which means the 7,000 use limit is used in one month. $40 per cartridge per urinal (not factoring in tax & shipping) is $160 per month or $1,920 per year. If these were flush toilets, water costs $0.0031 per gallon, and the industry standard 1 gallon per flush of a water urinal means $86 a month or $1037 a year in water costs. That water cost could be even less for urinals that use less than a gallon per flush or because people often don't flush urinals.
(Update: even simpler math, 1 flush = $0.003 per use VS. $40 cartridge / 7000 uses = $0.006 per use). This means "going green" will cost you 100% more!
What about that sewer odor that is sometimes smelled in bathrooms using waterless urinals I mentioned above? Water urinals have a special water based valve that does not need replacing which prohibits sewer gas from coming back into the bathroom. Waterless urinals instead rely on a special
vegetable-oil based sealant cartridge which must be changed often or else the seal is compromised resulting in sewer gas entering the restroom which creates a health hazard. So anytime it smells funny in bathrooms with waterless urinals, it is a health hazard because the establishment is not changing their urinal cartridges often enough. Plus for all the greenie hipsters out there, these cartridges just add to the landfills.
I'm all in favor for being a good steward of the Earth, and I'm all for alternative energy, but only if it makes sense, saves money, actually saves resources and optimizes things creating a noticeable improvement. "Global Warming" or "Climate Change" whatever you want to call it, is a
farce. "Going Green" is all about emotional pandering, and is almost always more wasteful, causes more harm, and costs more; but it gives people a warm & fuzzy green feeling, which is apparently more important instead.
So the next time you take a pee in an old-skool water based urinal, know that your saving money, being a good steward of the environment, and are being more sanitary than the "green" alternatives.
