UWLA

Who uses a 20-year old mobile phone?

16/11/2015 | “Now is the time for cash incentives to encourage the installation of water-efficient bathroom products,” says Yvonne Orgill, Managing Director of the European Water Labelling Scheme (EWL). Latest research, commissioned by the Bathroom Manufacturers Association, gives an analysis of the bathroom amenities of the 23 million households in England. The research shows that 44% of England’s houses still have toilets which flush with 7.5 litres or more. A quite remarkable figure. Since the very latest toilets flush with a maximum of 4 litres, it follows that 10 million of the houses in England use twice the amount of water they need to. The report concludes that if the existing water-guzzling toilets were replaced there is a potential to save at least 644 million litres of water per day in England alone. Furthermore, there are savings to be made in the energy required to transport water and purify sewage during the flushing cycle. The report states that the possible CO² savings are equivalent to taking at least 30,000 cars of the road for a year! EWL now works in 34 countries to mitigate the impact of the increasing demand for water. This voluntary scheme, which boasts over 8000 products across 93 well-known bathroom brands is growing rapidly as its success becomes more widely known. www.europeanwaterlabel.eu/ While it is recognised that the latest products are designed to consume less water EWL re-emphasises that even more significant water and energy savings can be accomplished through no-nonsense cash incentives to replace older plumbing products with the very latest water-efficient alternatives. A similar scheme to reduce old central heating boilers a few years ago proved a massive success. “Now is the time to create cash incentives for consumers to install water-efficient bathroom products,” says Orgill, MD of the Scheme. “We have to take steps to preserve our precious resources. Just as you wouldn’t use a 20-year-old mobile phone, it doesn’t quite make sense to use a 20-year-old bathroom. The industry is playing its part in the drive for water and energy efficiency. Now let’s hope the EU will play its part too and create the required incentives.”

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