Despite health and environmental warnings, Americans still stubbornly choose paper for cleaning their nether regions. A Scientific American article points out that Americans use an average of 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper ever year. Switching to bathroom bidets could save some 15 million trees. Doctors also warn that aside from being ineffective, wiping with dry toilet paper even cause painful fissures and hemorrhoids. [...]
TOTO has been pitching the hygienic bidet idea to Americans for more than a decade—partially with the goal of reducing paper waste.”We use water to clean everything else in our lives: dishes, clothes. At this critical juncture, you use paper?,” Campos said to the New York Times (paywall) in 2007. She explains that bidets weren’t common in Japan until TOTO introduced it in the 1980’s. More than 80% of Japanese households now have bidets. [...]
While he is certainly biased, Grenier believes that the Neorest’s high-tech cleansing alternative could…er…wipe away at least part of America’s reliance on paper. “We need to embrace technologies that are more hygienic and save the planet a little bit,” he says. But even if a $10,000 fancy bidet is out of the budget, there are affordable options. Washlets or hose attachments are readily available on Amazon or home appliance stores can be mounted on an existing toilet for under $50 and TOTO even sells free-standing bidet units for around $400.
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