Commercial Restroom Reflections: A Spotlight on Sustainability

Sustainability has been at Sloan’s core since the company was founded over 118 years ago. And with so many moving parts in the current sustainability landscape, we continue to evolve to this day.

We spoke with Paul Sambanis, Sloan’s Vice President of Sustainability—as he celebrates his two-year anniversary at the company—about Sloan’s 2024 sustainability milestones, what is on the horizon in 2025, and more.

As you reflect on 2024, what sustainability initiatives are you most proud of at Sloan?

I just celebrated my two-year anniversary at Sloan, and as I was looking back on 2023, so much of that year was focused on developing a sustainability plan and ensuring all levels of the company, including stakeholders, were brought in before releasing it to the public. With that in mind, this past year has really been about enacting that plan.

The first major accomplishment of the year came with our downtown Chicago Showroom earning LEED Silver and WELL Gold certification. That was a big accomplishment for us, as we were able to put into practice something that our customers go through all the time in terms of earning these important sustainability certifications.

We also worked with the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) to develop a template for them to undergo a sustainability journey and what that would entail for companies of all sizes. It was important to help our customers gain an understanding of what they’re doing, while also practicing what we preach.

The other milestone from 2024 in terms of water sustainability was transitioning from solely offering products that help with water efficiency to now focusing on water quality with our DropSpot™ Bottle Fillers. This was a big step forward for a 118-year-old company, and it really helped cement Sloan as a trusted advisor to ensure we’re providing solutions in our fight to improve water circulation and sustainability.     

What were some of your main takeaways from the Greenbuild Conference and Expo last month?

Three things really stood out to me from the show. First, building at scale has become a new point of emphasis. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has launched PERFORM, which is designed to help plan, improve, and verify sustainability and resilience performance across portfolios and complements the LEED Green Building Standard. 

Secondly, LEED v5 is transitioning to focus on resilience, quality of life, and performance. EPDs are here to stay, and we need to maximize their impact by transforming this data into action. Lastly, the Adopting the Common Materials Framework is going to revolutionize how we report on and request environmental data, creating a unified standard for transparency and informed decision-making in the building industry. Sloan is a proud member of Mindful Materials, the creators of this framework. I would also like to highlight that Sloan has been thoughtful on striking a balance of transparency, strategic action, and increased collaboration with our stakeholders, which I believe is at the foundation of Greenbuild’s core principals this year.

Sloan took sustainability beyond the restroom with the introduction of its DropSpot Bottle Fillers in 2024. How is this working to shape Sloan’s holistic sustainability efforts going forward?

The introduction of DropSpot this year has been a major game-changer for Sloan, as we’re now branching outside the restroom. There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding lead in water lines in places like Flint, Michigan, as well as the conversation now around PFAS. Having a product like DropSpot that is NSF-53 certified, with a filter technology that can help prevent lead, PFOS, and other contaminants, is a huge accomplishment for Sloan. We’re proud to say that the International Well Building Institute (IWBI) recognizes our bottle fillers for aligning with the WELL Building Standard by ensuring drinking water access and material lead restriction features through the Works with WELL program. This allows us to advance our stance as a trusted advisor when it comes to water sustainability, as well as moving beyond the restroom to communicate to customers that we can help them feel confident they’re drinking water that is safe for consumption. 

Sloan is one of the first in the industry to develop an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) around this type of product, which was an important step as we enter this new era. This crucial initiative allows us to gain a comprehensive understanding of the environmental impacts, carbon footprint of manufacturing, and the life cycle of this product. In addition, it allows us to add this product to our Carbon Neutral Product line. Sloan utilizes data from our EPDs to identify exactly how much carbon is generated when producing our products. Then, leveraging this data, we purchase an equal number of credits to offset the carbon we’ve generated.

How does Sloan continue to innovate its products to be Red List approved?

At Sloan, we understand that our customers want to ensure the products they specify avoid hazardous chemicals. We’ve been focusing on achieving this for our lavatories, sinks, and fixtures, and we realized that by upgrading our Health Product Declarations (HPDs) to the newest version (2.3), we can demonstrate that these products are Red List compliant. We utilized a third party—SCS Global Services—to help us conduct that analysis and review the products to identify the chemical composition down to 100 ppm (0.01%) and assess whether any ingredients are present on the ILFI LBC Red List. Based on a review of the product composition, these products are not known to contain any substance(s) identified as ILFI LBC Red List Chemicals above 100 ppm (0.01%). 

How have partnerships continued to evolve with Sloan’s sustainability efforts?

We’ve strengthened our partnership with the International Well Building Institute (IWBI) recently, which has been great as we continually submit our products to be recognized and verified to meet the various Well Building Standards.

Sloan has also continually worked with the Water Innovation Stewardship Exchange (WISE) and other water business leaders in the Great Lakes region to develop a GAP assessment. Our analysis of the Great Lakes region will help us better understand its water sustainability needs, so we can develop action plans next year to help bridge those gaps. And as I mentioned previously, we continue to partner with MCAA in an effort to support their sustainability journey.

How has Sloan extended its sustainability partnerships on a local level?

I’m really excited about the sustainability-based partnerships we’ve been developing right in our backyard. For example, I am currently on the board of the Leyden Foundation here in Franklin Park, and Sloan co-president & CEO Kirk Allen has been a longtime sponsor. When you think about environmental justice—addressing injustices that occur when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and more—it’s for that reason why we work to make sure we have a positive relationship with the greater community, and the Leyden Foundation provides these services for individuals that need it the most.

What I love about Sloan is how we’ve become stronger in terms of sustainability. We’ve become a leader, not just in our focus on collaboration and developing relationships, but also in the ways we work to serve the greater good through the partnerships we forge.

What is on the horizon for sustainability at Sloan in 2025 and beyond?

As stated in our Sustainability Report, we are committed to minimizing the environmental impact of our operations. We started tracking our carbon emissions in 2021. We aligned science-based greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets to achieve a 42% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emission by 2030. As a reminder, Scope 1 and 2 emissions are within our own operational control. 

I am very excited for what’s ahead in 2025 since we are looking to make improvement throughout our value chain. We’ll be focusing more on Scope three emissions—how we can do our due diligence and lay the groundwork for how we look at our larger supply chain. This includes, but is not limited, to evaluating our transportation, purchased goods and services, use of products sold, waste generated in operations, etc.