Good Questions: Plastic Shower Liner Alternative?

Audrey sent us a good question: "I appreciate your commitment to providing eco-friendly home-decorating solutions. I have a question...are there any eco-friendly alternatives to plastic shower liners? I need a new one, but I'm dreading the plastic-chemically smell that can't be doing anything good for me or the environment. I rent, so I'm stuck with having to use shower curtains."

There are plenty of reasons to not introduce a PVC liner into your bathroom - being hard to recycle and offgassing of unhealthy plasticizers among them.

We've used white nylon hotel-style curtains as liners (Restoration Hardware, $20) as a healthy alternative for years with no problems.

They are looooong-lasting, mildew restistant and super easy to keep clean and fresh - we simply throw them in the wash every so often and then rehang in place to let them dry.

Here are a few more AT Links that might be of interest:

Green Idea: Linen Shower Curtain and Cork Bath Mat

Smart's Non-PVC Shower Curtains

Anyone have more suggestions/sources to share?

Comments (6)

you can also get a nylon shower curtain liner at target for about $9.

posted by m.m. on September 26th 2007 at 6:18am
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i like these because they are waterproof and washable so you can skip the whole liner altogether.

http://sprouthome.stores.yahoo.net/bedbath-shower-curtains.html

posted by jens on September 26th 2007 at 6:21am
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Jens, How do you wash those? How often do you need to wash them? Thanks.

posted by Saha on September 26th 2007 at 7:22am
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very low maintenance - normal/cold machine wash, hang to dry. we probably put ours in the wash once each month and after a year and it still looks new.

posted by jens on September 26th 2007 at 9:05am
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Since my bathroom is dark, I can't use an opaque curtain because I'd never be able to see while shaving so I've been buying the Nackten PEVA clear curtains from IKEA. It is plastic and probably not washable (but I think it may be recyclable), but it doesn't have the chloride that PVC curtains have so it doesn't smell when you take it out of the bag. plus it's only a couple of bucks at IKEA (at the store, they don't sell it online)

posted by elissa on September 27th 2007 at 7:58am
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I use IKEA PEVA liners also and they will wash once or twice or for the price just replce.

posted by hippyvieja on February 10th 2009 at 2:44pm
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