Sustainability was in the spotlight at ISH, with forward-thinking innovations helping both brands and consumers conserve resources to reduce emissions and costs.
German brand Hansgrohe presented a conceptual bathroom that boasts a 90% reduction in water, energy and carbon, compared to conventional designs. It features a 10-litre shower with pH-neutralised water, which forgoes the need for shampoo and shower gel. The showerhead uses a lighting system to communicate how much water is left, and it captures all spent water for toilet flushing. The toilet also uses a pivoting lid to separate solids from liquids to reduce the need for unnecessary flushing. The manufacturer’s new commercial showerhead, the Pulsify Planet, also uses only six litres of water per minute and is made from post-use plastic.
Kaldewei (also from Germany) presented a shower channel with a heat exchanger that recycles the heat from spent shower water to warm up cold water on its way to the fixture – reducing the need for electric heating.
Launches also reconsidered manufacturing. Emirati brand Rak Ceramics revealed that it is now using 3D printing to construct its ceramic wash basins. This process does away with production waste, has a faster turnaround than conventional methods, enables small-batch collections, and allows clients to specify designs for their projects.
Elsewhere, Finnish start-up Woodio developed a sanitary collection made from a biocomposite derived from locally sourced timber waste. The material enables pieces to be built using a moulding process that creates 99% fewer carbon emissions than ceramic firing methods.
