The MullToa, imported from Sweden, is a waterless composting toilet.

At a recent consumer home and garden show in B.C., one of the main attractions had nothing to do with furniture or garden tools. It was a little number imported from Sweden — a waterless composting toilet called the MullToa 60.

This eco-friendly biffy from Sunderland, Ont.-based Ecoethic Inc. sports a swan symbol and has a number of government endorsements under its lid. A product like this hasn't always generated excitement at a consumer show, but with the new focus on global warming, a lot of folks are changing their views on household accoutrements and talking in terms of sustainable design.

Sustainable design has become a catchword that is used — and abused — by a raft of manufacturers and environmental pundits today. It can be applied to anything from entire buildings to furniture and fixtures to the clothes you wear — and even the disposal of your own bodily waste. Some equate it to living green, others to eco-friendliness, others to bio-degradability and recyclability.

So what does sustainable design really mean? The answer is all of the above and more.

Defining sustainable design

"Sustainable design relates to creating as small an environmental footprint as possible," said John Ferguson, principal of Hidi-Rae, a Toronto-based engineering firm. "It speaks to the mindset where everybody thinks in terms of cradle-to-grave for any product they use."

Translation: product design should take into account the resources used in its creation, its everyday use, and how it will be disposed of at the end of its life.

It helps to get a good grounding on the concept, said Antje Reid, resource manager with Parkin Architects in Toronto. If you don't, you just may be getting what she calls "greenwashed" by the hype.

"There's a lot to think about," she said. "For example, is a 'natural' product made from sustainably grown or harvested products? Or if it's made from recycled content, is that post-consumer or post-industrial?"

As Ecoethic president Robert Davis pointed out, "If you leave a Buick to the elements, it will biodegrade into something over time. Arsenic is environmentally friendly because it's a 'natural' product. You have to be careful that these labels fall within set parameters."

"To support sustainable living you have to consider everything about a product,” advised Katherine Magee, founder of greenopolis.ca, an information source for green products and services. If you get a 'green' product from Europe, for example, that you could have bought locally, that's a lot of energy and resources wasted in shipping."

New, planet-friendly materials

Lloyd Alter, an architect based in Toronto and creator of the environmental site treehugger.com, is a keen observer of the latest sustainable design trends. He cites a few sustainable resources that are making headway in consumer markets.

"There's a huge uptick in the amount of bamboo furniture, wall coverings, drapery and fabrics," he said.

Products made from locally sourced, sustainably harvested wood are also gaining momentum, Alter added. "Buying a locally cut FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] sustainable maple floor is better for the environment than using a [green product] shipped from Asia. You can even find FSC-certified wood at Home Depot."

Flooring products made from linseed oil and cork are also getting a thumbs-up as a sustainable choice. "Vinyl uses an incredible amount of chlorine and hydrocarbons to produce, and when it's recycled it releases dioxins," Alter said.

C2C design

Another trend that is strongly supported by a number of office furniture manufacturers is the cradle-to-cradle (C2C) design concept, where products at the end of their life can be dismantled and reused — or in the case of fabrics, composted.

Keilhauer's Simple chair has been awarded a Silver designation in the MBDC Cradle-to-Cradle program, as well as GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality certification.

Michael Keilhauer, president of Toronto-based office furniture producer Keilhauer, said the quest for the perfect sustainable product is a challenging one. "There is no magic door you can walk through. If you open one, there are five more. If you have a part made out of recycled pop bottles, you might find out the producers used heavy metals in production. Too much recycled content can compromise the structural integrity of the product because the fibres break down every time a product is recycled. If you can't get the structural integrity, you can't make it look good."

The move toward sustainability is a series of conscious baby steps, said Keilhauer.

The same holds true for consumers, said Gabriel Draven, president of Village Technologies Inc. in Toronto, specialists in renewable energy efficiency products.

"There's a whole spectrum of things homeowners can do, from changing a light bulb to a $100,000 retrofit. The important thing to know is, you don't have to change everything at once."

In a nutshell, Alter said, the best way to start living sustainably is to source products locally, use less and think carefully about purchases.

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