As Yvonne Piu, Head of Marketing at Kaldewei, explained: “On the one hand, it goes without saying that durability, or the useful life of a product, plays an important role. And on the other hand, there’s the question of what to do with it afterwards. At Kaldewei, we take a very in-depth approach to the subject and have been thinking about how we can develop a circular raw material for a long time now.” Kaldewei’s steel enamel products are designed for a long lifespan of approx. 30 to 40 years and are then 100% recyclable, meaning that the material can be used to make the same product again.

For sustainability expert Dr Susanne Sollner, Head of Innovation/Sustainability Management at bathroom furniture specialist burgbad, the term sustainability spans three different areas: profitability, social aspects and ecology. “The only way to develop the theme and set yourself action areas – whether that means climate protection, resource conservation or the global supply chain – is to take a strategic approach to the overall subject. Then you can show that something is verifiably sustainable – which obviously means backing it up with certification as well.” Take burgbad’s bestselling Eqio series, for example: it was awarded the Blue Angel late last year. The eco-label certifies that the bathroom furniture collection is made of low-emission materials, only uses wood from sustainably managed forests and has no adverse impact on health in the living environment. In addition, burgbad has been certified as a climate-neutral furniture manufacturer since 2016 and carries other labels that verify the company’s sustainable and ecological practices.

For Wolfgang Burchard, on the other hand – Managing Director of the VDMA’s Valves / Welding and Pressure Gas Equipment associations, and as such a representative of the fittings industry – the sustainability question should focus on the quality of drinking water: “On the one hand, what goes into the pipe should come out of the pipe unchanged. And on the other, we don’t want to waste water – even though we in Germany are lucky in that we have enough.” Responsible handling of this vital resource is essential; that starts with sustainable design – in the sense of design that doesn’t chase passing fashions that are no longer popular a year later – but also includes quality and materials – which play a significant role with regard to the products both in front of and behind the wall.

As Jens J. Wischmann concluded: “It’s clear that sustainable thinking and sustainability aren’t just a job for product development; they’re issues that involve the entire company.” And that doesn’t only apply to the manufacturer’s side of the equation, as was apparent from a clip featuring Sebastian Fuchs Bad & Heizung, a bathroom and heating company from the skilled trades sector. Simon Schlese, Commercial Project Manager, explains how, among other things, the firm plants trees to ensure a low carbon footprint and how advising customers on sustainability can work. Last but not least, Hannes Bäuerle Managing Director of Raumprobe, an online materials database and physical materials exhibition in Stuttgart, joined the conversation by video to give some examples of the valuable ways in which modern materials can contribute to a green bathroom. “Especially in the bathroom,” Bäuerle emphasised, “a multisensory experience plays an extremely important role. We experience materials from the top of our head all the way down to the soles of our feet. And that only makes selecting the right materials all the more important and relevant.” And those materials should be as kind to the user as they are to the environment.

The lessons from the first day of the Pop up Magazine: the Green Bathroom and sustainability are topics that have already been accompanying the bathroom sector for a long time and permit many different approaches; both manufacturers and the skilled trades are adopting different areas of focus. At the same time, companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need to make sustainable practices and thinking transparent and communicate their commitment to users.

All the pro­grammes can be viewed in full length on our new YouTube channel.

Further information:

Green Bath­room: 8 facts for eco­log­i­cal bath­room plan­ning