Soybean Based Urinals
The company I work for, like so many others, is going green. The company is pushing bike to work initiatives, electric hand dryers instead of paper towels, and the latest waterless urinals. While I have no doubt the electric hand dryers are saving both the environment and corporate funds (employees often wipe their hands on their pants before being held a minute or more to use the electric hand dryers), the urinals got me thinking.
The waterless part is great right? Saving lots of water? Sure, but the urinals smell terrible. It would seem they are also nearly impossible to hit, as every waterless urinal seems to have urine all over the floor in front of it. Those things are downers, but don’t really matter to the company right? Well I’m not so sure. Whatever they spent on the trial green bathroom facility is certainly wasted; traffic to the bathroom seems almost negligible. But that wasn’t even what got me thinking.
The urinal claimed to be made out of 30% of a soy based resin. Well at first that made me happy. All of my friends know I hate soy based foods, and the idea that I was urinating on something partially soy based just made my day. However, I started to think back to the impact that corn subsidies which promoted creating ethanol based fuels had on worldwide food prices, and wondered what impact soy based urinals might have if they were to suddenly become increasingly popular. I don’t know if you remember the report, but the finding was summarized as follows:
“When all the costs and benefits are tallied, the government, taxpayers, and consumers together would lose $6.1-$7.2 billion or $1.61-$1.92 per additional gallon produced during the 1986-94 period if ethanol subsidies were increased enough to prompt the ethanol industry to produce 2 billion gallons in 1995. Conversely, if ethanol production falls to zero, they would save some $6.8-$8.9 billion, or $1.35-$1.76 per gallon not produced.”
Make no mistake, they aren’t making soy into just urinals, they are also making biodiesel from it. An increase in demand or government subsidies of the soy biodiesel production could create a similar cost to tax payers, or a worldwide swing in the price of soy. When the price of soy goes up, all kinds of crazy things happen. It would seem that the cost of soy is directly correlated with deforestation in the Amazon, as people scramble to clear forest to plant the bean. Though the markets are complicated, we know that as the price of food goes up, people starve. We saw this very clearly in 2008.
My conclusion: enjoy the smug satisfaction of your flushless urination and as they raze the Amazon rainforests and children in third world countries drop dead of starvation. Go Green!
Ben Mellish's Blog 
Wow, that’s deep. I’ll continue to bypass that “green” restroom, flush as usual and ignore the loud hand dryer so I can use some good old recycled paper to dry my hands. Or use my pants if it’s empty. I’d just like someone to clean the floor better so my shoes don’t stick!
Dear Ben,
It seems to me a key point you are trying to make here is that as soy is used to manufacture more and more products, the costs will escalate and the government will need to step in and subsidize soy production, which will just end up costing taxpayers more and more money at a time when austerity is becoming the “rule of law” around the world.
I hope that looking at the issue a bit more closely will clarify things. Soy is now being used to produce a number of products.
For instance, according to the United Soybean Board, a U.S.-farmer-led organization, in just the past two or three years, along with waterless soy urinals, these soy-based products have been introduced:
• Oils to make bedding foams for Simmons Mattress
Company
• Foams for insulating everything from cans to homes
• Interior upholstery including seats and armrests in
Hyundai, Kia, General Motors, and Ford Motor Company cars
• Sandals and shoes now sold at Wal-Mart around the
world
Ultimately, using soy is saving this country and the U.S.
taxpayer considerable sums because, more often than not, it is reducing our need for foreign oil. Most of these products and scores more that now use varying amounts of soy resin formerly required the use of petroleum somewhere along the line in their production.
Whether the federal government will start subsidizing farmers to produce soy as they have with corn, I do not know. However, what I do know is that any way we can transfer from oil to a renewable product such as soy, we are ultimately going to save money now and/or in the future and, even more important, protect the long-term security of this country by promoting sustainablity.
Klaus Reichardt
Founder and CEO
Waterless Company
1050 Joshua Way
Vista, CA 92081
Tel: 800-244-6364 or 760-727-7723 x102
Fax: 760-727-7775
Web: http://www.waterless.com
PS. In regards to the urine problem on floors, that’s been a problem for more than 100 years…about the time urinals were invented
I picked on urinals this time, but the point I like to make is that going green more often than not has far reaching and distinctly un-green consequences.
Glad you picked the urinals as it is part of the process to get to the next level, as in every product development; first costs in every step are always higher until they become either mainsteam or the next better process is developed.
Cheers.