Soy-Based Composite Introduced in Waterless Urinal

Noting the potential water savings of a waterless urinal, Niki Bradley, marketing director for Waterless, said, “We wanted to develop a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way to manufacture them as well.” The company emphasized that its fiberglass urinals using soy resin would appear and work no differently from its other waterless urinals, although they will cost a little more.

While the move to replace petrochemicals with rapidly renewable agricultural content is, on its surface, laudable, life-cycle data on other building products using soy resins shows that the shift may not reduce overall environmental impacts, due to the effects on biodiversity and eutrophication, among other agricultural impacts. The percentage of soy resin will likely increase as the manufacturing technology evolves, according to Waterless. More information is at www.waterless.com.