What are the priorities for sustainable washrooms?

WHY DOES sustainability matter in the washroom?

With a changing climate, it’s vital for us all to do everything we can to preserve our resources and minimise the amount of waste we generate. 

Washrooms use large quantities of consumables every day, which all have an environmental impact.

What challenges do washroom providers face in becoming more sustainable?

They face a complex set of challenges when trying to adopt a more sustainable operation. The biggest hurdle for most is how to create hygienic, user-friendly, practical and cost-effective washrooms without sacrificing on sustainability credentials. The volume of green claims made by manufacturers can also make it difficult to make a fully informed choice.

How can washroom consumables make a difference?

Washroom consumables can make an enormous difference to how sustainable a washroom is.Identifying the right product for individual washrooms is crucial as it can impact significantlyon how efficiently it operates.

The design of the products themselves and their lifecycle is important too. Products dispense differently and suit different scenarios, and can also influence consumption behaviours. 

Another consideration would be the material of the products: our data suggests that our recycled tissue has around a 12.6% lower carbon impact than virgin equivalents.  

And simple changes can stack up.  Traditional C-fold towels, for instance, can lead to over-use because it is difficult to pull just one towel from the dispenser, meaning users often take more towels than they need and end up throwing the unused ones away.

A stronger alternative is a mechanical hands-free roll towel dispenser, which dispenses single sheets to encourage users to take only what they need. Northwood also offers electronic hand towel dispensers which have a range of settings - from dispensing delays to adjustable sheet lengths - to manage user habits. 

Switching to foam soap is another easy win, with research suggesting that this type of soap can reduce water consumption by 15% compared with liquid soaps.   

We should also consider what happens to products and packaging after use. Can customers successfully recycle what manufacturers produce?

Hygiene and sustainability 

How can you balance hygiene and sustainability?

When it comes to washrooms, hygiene is something that you can’t compromise on, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of sustainability. 

Good washroom hygiene is about keeping facilities clean, well-stocked, and pleasant to use. It is also about selecting products and dispensers that help to boost hygiene, whilst minimising mess and waste and discouraging overuse. Good product design should deliver on all of these.

This is where it helps to consider soap dispensers that control usage and high-capacity toilet rolls and towel dispensers that help to reduce run-outs and reduce the frequency of refills. 

It's also worth thinking about durability. Robust dispensers can take heavy use and won’t need replacing as often, which is more sustainable.  

Washroom providers should look carefully at what their suppliers are doing to make products as sustainable as possible. As a leading manufacturer, Northwood prioritises the responsible sourcing of raw materials and promotes the principles of circularity to help protect our forests and reduce environmental impact.

One of the biggest advances we made was introducing our Green Loop recycling service, a closed loop hand towel recycling initiative. We recently supported a music festival in London, where we recycled nearly half a tonne of hand towels - the equivalent of 290,000 towels - material that would otherwise have been lost to the value chain. 

How can washroom providers measure the impact of changes?

The most effective way to measure the impact of changes is by looking at data. We understand that you can’t manage what you can’t measure and have invested heavily in this area.

Our business has very mature data for product carbon footprints and we’ve been independently verified to the international standard (ISO 14067). This means that we can helpcustomers to make more informed decisions when it comes to understanding the carbon impact of products. 

Having the data and being able to report accurately on carbon impact is a step forward, allowing us to support customers as they inform on their Scope 3 carbon reduction initiatives.

Another way of measuring the impact of change is by measuring recycling rates through initiatives like our Green Loop service. The music festival I mentioned earlier already had mature waste management systems in place and had set robust targets. Green Loop, together with the data and reporting we provided, supported those objectives and helped them measure their improvement.

Waste and greenhouse gas emissions

How does Northwood help customers to reduce waste?

We support customers in reducing waste by working closely with them. Without honest and transparent discussion and collaboration, we can’t support each other. As part of our site survey assessments, we help customers to find the best solution to meet their individual needs and overcome any issues they may be having concerning waste.

Our approach is to implement a robust waste hierarchy: reduce first, then optimise, then recycle any residual waste. So, for instance I would expect our Raphael range to deliver strong reduction outcomes for customers who have previously been using more universal products like bulk packs, conventional toilet rolls or folded hand towels, before then discussing initiatives like Green Loop.

By how much has your Green Loop initiative helped to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

An ISO-aligned Life Cycle Assessment shows that recycling used paper hand towels through Green Loop can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 38% compared with traditional disposal routes, such as landfill and incineration.

Instead of being lost to waste streams, Green Loop collects used hand towels and recycles them into new hygiene paper products, keeping valuable fibre in circulation and reducing the need for virgin raw materials.

The assessment compares the full life cycle of paper hand towels, from raw material production through manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life management. 

By choosing closed-loop recycling, customers can take a practical, evidence-based step towards lowering the carbon footprint of their washroom operations, without compromising product performance or quality.

How do you engage your customers on sustainability issues?

We engage with customers through site surveys, meetings and regular conversations, because we believe sustainability works best when we collaborate. Every customer has different priorities and challenges, so we listen to what they are trying to achieve and work with them to find practical solutions that deliver a measurable difference. Those conversations, along with things like our Materiality Assessments, also help us understand what customers need from us and feed into our product development and wider sustainability strategy.

How do you ensure that sustainability practices deliver measurable value for customers?

We focus on transparent reporting and independently verified data to help customers measure their progress towards sustainability. But the value goes beyond simply providing the data. Our own Group carbon footprint reduced by around 8% in absolute terms in 2025 compared with 2024, and as we reduce the impact of our own operations, that improvement can cascade into the products we supply to customers.

The same principle applies to circularity. As we scale our Green Loop service, more used hand towels are recovered and kept in circulation, reducing the need for virgin raw materials and creating further efficiencies across the value chain.

Our vertically integrated model also means we have visibility across much of that value chain, from raw material supply and manufacturing through to converting, storage and transportation. Ultimately, we believe the biggest opportunities come from collaboration, working with customers and suppliers to identify where we can reduce carbon, waste and resource use, and then using data to measure the difference that those changes make.

Joel Quick is sustainability manager at Northwood Hygiene Products

For further information, please visit www.northwood.co.uk

Tel: 01952 236 930