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Who’d have guessed urinals would be at the forefront of water sustainability? Martin Richards of Devon’s Smarti Environmental reveals how its clever little gadget saves millions of litres of water from being flushed down the drain

Flushing and urinal usage have gone hand-in-hand for over 150 years However, in these eco-conscious times that looks to be changing. It’s all thanks to a genius piece of kit that slashes the volume of water flushed down the drain every time a Smarti-fitted urinal is used.

‘We’re a very unglamorous business,’ says Smarti Environmental founder Martin Richards, but that belies the role the waterless-tech company plays in helping solve the UK’s environmental challenges.

Traditional urinals flush, in total, around 217 billion litres of fresh water down the drain each year – more than the volume of water held in the UK’s largest reservoir. The process of treating this flushed water requires a huge amount of energy, which is where Smarti helps reduce our collective carbon output. In the UK, 2,266 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalent are used each year to process and treat water. The financial and environmental costs go way beyond spending a penny.

The Devon business supplies, fits and maintains high-performance valves, which convert standard urinals into waterless systems. The retrofit technology is compatible with most existing systems and eradicates the use of water – and the carbon outputs associated with treating it.

It was when Smarti Environmental gained NHS supplier status in 2018 that the company realised how imperative it was to achieve its own netzero certification.

‘It was important that we knew our own carbon footprint so we could achieve a net-zero supply position within 24 months,’ explains Martin.

He enlisted the help of Blue Marble to identify where the company could be more efficient. The consultancy also worked with Smarti’s manufacturing partners to ensure the whole supply chain was as sustainable as possible.

‘As a result, we’re well positioned to meet the targets we’ve set ourselves to become a net-zero supplier,’ says Martin. ‘Since February 2022, all our manufacturing has taken place in the UK, which hugely reduces our carbon miles.’

Through its work with Blue Marble, Smarti Environmental can now assert it’s the only supplier of the high-performance valves that are exclusively manufactured in the UK.

That’s just the first flush of success – another patented, carbon-saving piece of tech from Smarti is coming down the pipe later this year.

Enzyme power

The no-flush system not only saves up to 100,000 litres of water per urinal per year, but also reduces aerosol bacteria and virus transmission by up to 98%, significantly improving washroom hygiene.

‘Water is flushed down the drains of urinals every hour of every day, so I was inspired by the idea that there was a way to make this more hygienic and less harmful to the planet,’ says Martin.

The need to make workplaces more sustainable was one of Smarti Environmental’s founding principles. Most of its clients are commercial organisations such as restaurants, bars and cinemas which have public conveniences. The tech’s sustainable credentials and hygiene benefits also made it an obvious choice for the NHS.

‘The NHS has ambitious plans to achieve net zero in just eight years. Waterless urinals are specified in its plans to become more sustainable, alongside things such as energy-saving lighting,’ says Martin.

When developing their system, the Smarti team had to understand the chemical reaction that takes place when urine and water mix, and work out how to deal with urine once water is removed from the equation.

Smarti uses SteriKleen enzyme cleaner and SteriKlear enzyme pods – both of which use friendly enzymes to break down the urine – so that by the time it reaches the sewage system it has minimal impact.