How to Remove Mold in Your Shower & Locker Rooms

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Mold inside the shower or locker rooms of your facility can be a big problem. Not only does it discolor grout and weaken wood, but it’s also potentially hazardous to your health and the health of those using your facility. So to make sure that your locker rooms and showers are safe and mold-free, it’s important to remove any signs of mold or mildew once they appear.

In this guide, we’ll tell you how to remove mold properly as well as how you can prevent mold from coming back.

locker replacement checklist

What You Need for Mold Removal

Having the proper supplies is an important part of mold removal. After all, if the mold isn’t removed properly, there’s a good chance it will come back and spread to other areas of your facility. Not only that, but without the right gear, your cleaning team could get sick when trying to clean the infected areas.

Here’s what you need:

1.      Old clothes or a jumpsuit: You want to launder or dispose of any clothes you wear when cleaning the mold-infected area. Otherwise, you could unintentionally spread mold to other rooms or experience an adverse reaction to the mold spores.

2.      Rubber gloves: These are important to protect your hands from coming in contact with mold or the cleaning chemicals used during removal.

3.      N-95 or P-100 respirator: These respirators are specially made to block out mold spores, which can be as small as 3 microns. For reference, a strand of human hair is about 125 microns.

4.      Safety goggles: These will protect your eyes from any mold spores that might be floating in the air as well as any harmful vapors from the cleaning chemicals.

5.      Spray bottle: You can use a simple spray bottle filled with water to gently wet any visible mold before you start cleaning to limit the number of spores released into the air.

6.      Box fan: It’s vital to keep the room well ventilated. If there’s a window or door leading outside, use a large box fan to remove any mold spores. Be sure to cover any part of the window or door with a plastic drop cloth or cardboard so the spores can’t accidently blow back into the room. DO NOT use fans if blowing into another room in the facility – only use if there’s a direct path outside.

7.      Bleach: Use bleach and water to treat mold-infected areas.

8.      Bucket for cleaning

9.      Scrub brush

10.  Flathead screwdriver for grout lines

How to Remove Mold

After you’ve put on your protective clothing and set up any appropriate ventilation, it’s time to start treating the mold-infected areas. If you can’t ventilate the room properly, seal it off from the rest of the facility until cleaning is complete. Be sure to cover any air vents or turn off the ventilation system.

When you’re ready to start, use the spray bottle to gently wet the mold. This will help to prevent spores from flying into the air as you clean. Then use a 1:8 bleach/water mixture to clean the infected areas. Scrub using a tough cleaning brush or use a flathead screwdriver to gently scrape mold from grout lines. Consider adding some detergent to your cleaning mixture to make it easier to lift the mold.

Rinse surfaces well. Wipe down the walls, floors, and any other treated surface and launder or dispose of the used towels. Place them in a large trash bag to try to keep any of the mold from escaping.

Preventing Mold from Returning

Treating mold can be a relatively quick and inexpensive process, but it’s even easier to prevent mold and mildew from occurring in the first place. One of the best ways is to reduce the amount of moisture in the room. However, this is difficult to do in locker rooms and showers.

So the next option for preventing mold is to use materials in your facility that are naturally resistant to mold and mildew. Materials like high-density polyethylene, or HDPE, are known for their high resistance to mold. Not only that, but HDPE is also resistant to bacteria and rust.

Are Dressing Compartments the Future for Public Locker Rooms?

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We’re all familiar with the traditional locker room design: one long bench for every row of tall lockers and maybe a community shower area. The only privacy you have is behind a towel or in the bathroom stall, assumingthe locker room actually has a bathroom.

But with the recent debate over LGBTQ rights and gender-neutral bathrooms, privacy has become a major topic of conversation. It also has many building designers wondering if dressing compartments will soon be the norm in public locker rooms.

3 Benefits of Dressing Compartments in Public Locker Rooms

Individual dressing compartments actually make a lot of sense for use in public locker rooms. For one, they provide more privacy to guests than the traditional open floor plans for obvious reasons. It’s also likely that if guests feel more comfortable using your facility, they’ll be likely to return and refer their family and friends.

Another benefit of dressing compartments is that they’re easy to install. They can even be ceiling mounted, which leaves the floor completely clear. This makes it incredibly easy for the cleaning team to wash the floors effectively while also protecting the mounting gear from rust or corrosion.

Speaking of rust and corrosion, materials like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) can be used for dressing compartments that are perfect in locker rooms. This tough plastic resists rust, mold, graffiti, and bacteria. With HDPE dressing compartments, you can add more privacy to locker rooms while at the same time creating a healthier environment.

locker replacement checklist

Are There Limitations to Dressing Compartments in Locker Rooms?

Although the benefits of adding dressing compartments to any locker room are obvious, they don’t come without certain drawbacks that need to be considered. For example, if you plan to add dressing compartments to an existing locker room, you’ll need to find room for them first. While some locker room designs may have an unused area that’s perfect for adding a few dressing compartments, others may need a slight floorplan redesign.

Meanwhile, franchise organizations like national fitness centers with multiple locations may face another obstacle: widespread implementation. While adding dressing compartments to one locker room may take some planning, it’s certainly a larger task to execute this update for multiple rooftops that may have unique floorplans. However, that’s not to say that adding dressing compartments shouldn’t be considered?

Will Dressing Compartments Be Mandatory in Locker Rooms?

As more people express support for federal legislation that would require gender-neutral bathrooms in all commercial buildings, it’s possible that a similar movement could focus on privacy issues within modern locker rooms. But will dressing compartments become a mandatory design feature for all locker rooms? It may be too soon to say.

However, legal mandates aside, the benefits that dressing compartments can have on a locker room and a facility are undeniable.

Want to learn more about HDPE dressing compartments? Check our free dressing compartments product kit.

Are Your School’s Lockers Ready for Back to School?

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Year after year, school lockers take quite a beating: slamming doors, the weight of textbooks and supplies, even graffiti and rust—a lot can lead to locker breakdown. That’s why it’s so important to inspect lockers at the beginning of each school year to ensure that they’re safe and in good condition for the next wave of students.

That process begins with a back-to-school locker assessment completed by your school’s maintenance team or other faculty members.

School Locker Assessment Plan

It’s a good idea for you or your maintenance team to do a complete walk-through of the school before officially opening doors to new students. Be sure to inspect the lockers carefully, checking for any signs of damage or neglect. It might be helpful to create a map so you can mark off any lockers that need further attention.

locker replacement checklist

Here’s what to look for:

  • Any signs of rust: Rust can be extremely dangerous when left untreated. Not only does it compromise the security of the locker, but it can also create sharp edges that could spread tetanus if a student accidently gets cut.
  • Graffiti: One thing that leads to the occurrence of more graffiti is actually the presence of graffiti itself. So be sure to cover or remove any graffiti as soon as possible. This will also help to improve the overall perception of your school’s quality and security.
  • Dents: A dented locker isn’t just an eyesore; it can also affect the locker’s ability to keep students’ belongings safe, especially if the dent allows someone to slip a hand inside the locker without needing to open the lock. Replace dented or damaged lockers immediately.

While many schools will find that replacing lockers is the best option, you’ll want to consider the material your new lockers are made of. That’s because traditional metal lockers, for example, are particularly prone to rust, graffiti, and other types of damage. Meanwhile, materials like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) naturally resist such damage.

HDPE as an Alternative Locker Material

In 2011, Danville Middle School was hit by devastating flood waters brought on by Tropical Storm Lee. The Pennsylvania school was submerged in up to 8 feet of dirty, polluted water, which damaged everything from classrooms to the library and even the district’s computer and telephone networks.

But some of the worst damage was to the school’s lockers, which were exposed to bacteria from the contaminated waters and began to rust.

When replacing the lockers, school officials decided to go with HDPE lockers for several reasons, including that HDPE is naturally resistant to bacteria, which now helps the school maintain a cleaner and healthier learning environment, and that the HDPE plastic is naturally resistant to rust (as well as dents and graffiti).

Which Lockers Are Best for Your School?

While every school is a little bit different, they all have the same goal: to provide students with a safe environment to learn and grow. Choosing the right materials for your facility can be just as important as the books and curriculums you choose. So before the start of the new school year, be sure to inspect the condition of your school’s lockers and ensure that they’re ready to serve your students.

Want to learn more about when to replace your lockers? Download this free Locker Replacement Checklist. In addition to walking you through the inspection process, this checklist includes helpful information about how to determine if your lockers need to be replaced or if they can be repaired at a lower cost.

Will the Gender-Neutral Bathroom Bill Affect Commercial Restroom Design?

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With the conversation about LGBTQ rights elevating in volume across the globe, one proposed piece of legislation has building managers particularly concerned: the gender-neutral bathroom bill.

However, they’re not necessarily worried about who’s using which bathroom, but rather what the bill will mean for commercial restroom design and how it could impact the facility’s budget.

What’s the Gender-Neutral Bathroom Bill?

So far, no such gender-neutral bathroom bill has been passed into law in the US, but some businesses have taken it upon themselves to update their restroom policies. Global retailer Target, for example, announced that transgender employees and customers were free to use any bathroom they wanted depending on the gender they identify with. However, following public protests and media controversy, the Minnesota-based company is now dedicating $20 million to ensure gender-neutral bathrooms in all 1,800 stores.

Several gender-neutral bathroom bills have been designed in states such as New York and California, but all have fallen apart. Many of the proposed bills had a similar policy. They called for all single-occupant bathrooms should be labeled as gender neutral.

Meanwhile, other bills requiring people to use bathrooms that matched the gender to which they were assigned at birth have also fallen through, except for the controversial Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act that passed in North Carolina earlier this year. This bill prevents transgender people who haven’t undergone sex reassignment surgery and updated their birth certificate from using the restroom that matches their gender identity.

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What Building Managers and Designers Need to Know

Should a gender-neutral bathroom bill for single-occupant bathrooms be passed into law, many building managers might find it easier to be compliant than they originally may have thought. For example, in a facility that only has single-occupant restrooms, all that may be needed is to remove the gender signs from the entrance and replace them with a gender-neutral sign or possibly no sign at all. In fact, there are many single-occupant bathrooms across the country that are already compliant in this way.

However, buildings that have multiple-occupant bathrooms may face a different challenge if these types of facilities are included in the bill. As was the case when Target announced its LGBTQ-friendly bathroom policy, public unrest could cause businesses to install new, gender-neutral bathrooms.

What Would It Mean for Commercial Restroom Design?

Since no gender-neutral bathroom bill has been successfully passed into law, it’s difficult to calculate exactly how it would affect commercial restroom design. However, there are many ways that designers and building architects may decide to handle the challenge, depending on what the legislation mandates.

For example, designers might factor a third, gender-neutral bathroom into their building designs. Another possible alternative, although probably less likely, is the completely coed bathroom, which features private, lockable stalls for all occupants.

It’s still unclear what, if any, impact a gender-neutral bathroom bill would have on commercial restroom design. However, current events have proven that the gender-neutral bathroom is something worth considering as architects and designers plan for new facilities.

How to Reduce Locker Room Theft

Whether you’re at the gym, school, or your place of employment, locker room lockers are a convenient way to keep your belongings safe. However, when thieves target those locker rooms, it puts your personal property at risk.

Below are ways that you can reduce locker room theft whether you’re a member using the locker room or a facility manager.

How Can Members Reduce Locker Room Theft?

While lots of people use lockers in their daily lives – workers, students, athletes – we’ll use the term member to refer to anyone who uses a locker. For members to reduce locker room theft, there are certain precautions that should be taken.

  • Leave valuables at home. If possible, don’t store valuables in your locker. Thieves who continuously come up empty handed when breaking into lockers are likely to turn their attention somewhere else. However, we understand that sometimes it’s unavoidable to store valuables inside the locker.
  • Invest in a quality lock. A cheap lock that’s easily cut, picked, or otherwise compromised can be tempting to thieves looking for an easy target. Instead, purchase a heavy-duty lock from a quality manufacturer.
  • Choose a locker in a visible area. Although the entire locker room should feel like a safe place, based on its design, there may be some areas that are more prone to criminal activity. The back corners, for example, could provide ample coverage for a thief to feel concealed enough to attempt breaking into a locker. Chose a locker that’s in the open and next to other lockers in use.

How Can Managers Reduce Locker Room Theft?

As helpful as it is to have your members working to reduce locker room theft, their efforts may be futile if not backed up by the facility administrators.

As the managers of a locker room or a building which houses a locker room, it’s your responsibility to take actionable steps toward deterring theft. Here’s what you can do:

  • Know who’s in your facility. One way to do this is by requiring membership or photo ID cards. This gives you a way to monitor who’s in the building when the thefts occur. You can also require nonmembers to provide identification and sign in/out.
  • Monitor the locker room areas. If you can, keep a staff member nearby the locker room entrance to monitor people coming in and out. Train staff members on how to politely approach a suspicious person. Conduct walkthroughs at irregular times throughout the day.
  • Keep lockers in good condition. Damaged lockers can be easily broken into. Not to mention, a locker room that’s in poor condition can send a message to would-be criminals that building officials don’t care. If your lockers need repairs, consider replacing them with highly durable HDPE lockers.

In addition to being resistant to rust and dents, lockers made from HDPE plastic lockers are extremely strong and effective at deterring would-be thieves.

Download our FREE Locker Replacement Checklist, which helps facility managers and administrators ensure that the condition of your lockers are safe and satisfactory.

How to Cut Energy Costs in Your Facility

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Limiting your expenditures is one of the primary goals of virtually every business. However, cutting energy costs can be easier said than done. For many administrators and business owners, determining where potential issues or opportunities lie can be a lengthy process, which in turn allows more time for energy loss and expenses to accrue.

In this post, we’ll review a few ways that you can reduce energy costs in your facility, many of which you can put into action immediately.

Controlled Lighting

A large facility that runs 24 hours a day can use up a lot of electricity, especially when it comes to lighting. One method for reducing energy costs is to use controlled lighting to limit energy waste. This method specifies strategic lighting of the different areas of your facility when in use.

So if certain areas go unused at night when the day shift leaves, it’s recommended that the lights in this area be turned off either by the custodial staff, security, or some other employee. By only supplying light to the areas of the facility currently occupied, you can drastically reduce your energy usage.

Update and Repair Equipment

Broken or outdated electronics can use up a massive amount of energy. It’s important to make sure that your facility’s equipment is in good working condition and features the most recent advances in power-saving technology. Light switches, for example, can be equipped with motion sensor triggers so they turn on automatically when occupied and turn off when not in use.

Other updates include ensuring that adequate insulation is used to prevent energy loss through walls or windows. New energy-efficient windows, proper insulation, and other forms of retro-commissioning efforts can help your facility to achieve annual energy savings of about 16%, according to a study conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Some energy wastes are more difficult to identify and diagnostic tools such as infrared imagers and electrical test equipment can be used to measure energy usage and detect unforeseen problems.

Involve Every Member of Your Staff

If you want to reduce your facility’s energy use, then you need to employ the help of everyone who uses the facility. That means communicating and coordinating with the members of your staff to keep energy waste at a minimum and developing an energy management strategy. This can be as simple as having your custodial staff clean at night, turning off all of the machines and lights in each room as they finish cleaning.

You can also speak with your staff to keep doors closed to limited energy waste or create incentives for those who come up with ways to cut energy costs. One place where you may be able to significantly reduce energy consumption is in your facility’s kitchen, if you have one. Some nonessential ovens and fryers, for example, can be kept off during non-peak hours or refrigerators can be set to the most efficient temperatures:

  • 37 to 40 degrees F for refrigerators
  • 0 to 5 degrees F for freezers
  • -10 to 0 degrees F for freezers storing ice cream

Another way to cut energy costs in your facility is to consider materials that are easy to clean and care for. Surfaces that are easier to clean take less time for your custodial staff to address. HDPE materials, for example, are mold/mildew and graffiti resistant in addition to being rust and dent resistant as well.

*VIEW LABORATORY TEST RESULTS

Promoting Inclusivity and Diversity in Your Classroom

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When a safe and inclusive classroom is created, more students are capable of achieving a higher level of learning and understanding, not to mention a smoother transition into later stages of education like college or graduate school. Promoting inclusivity and diversity in the classroom is the responsibility of the teachers and school administrators, since the success of their efforts relies solely on the success of their student body.

In this post, we explore why inclusivity is so important and how to facilitate an all-inclusive learning environment, and we’ll showcase an example of one school that demonstrated impeccable inclusivity and diversity within its classrooms.

Why Is Inclusivity Important?

Simply put, inclusivity is important because it promotes the education of all students equally, no matter their race, sex, religion, or any other factor. There are two main issues that arise when talking about inclusivity: a feeling of belonging and stereotype threat.

When students have a feeling of belonging within the classroom or in the educational institution as a whole, they’re less likely to struggle with coursework and campus life. Creating a sense of belonging helps students to integrate into the educational institution and aids them in achieving their educational goals.

Stereotype threat, on the other hand, is the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s own in-group, especially when the student strongly identifies with that group. This can significantly impact the focus and performance of students and create other cognitive obstacles. Students from less privileged socioeconomic statuses, women in math and science classes, members of the LGBT community, and students of other backgrounds are at risk of suffering from stereotype threat.

By promoting inclusivity and diversity in the classroom, teachers can significantly lower the instances of these barriers to learning.

How to Promote Inclusivity in Your Classroom

With a little bit of planning, you can help to promote inclusivity and diversity in the classroom. The first step it to ensure that you include diverse ideas, content, and materials. Whenever you’re constructing a syllabus, be sure to include context and diverse resources to illustrate your lesson plan. It’s also important to be aware of any biases that you may have or any experiences that may shape your perspective or selection of materials.

Other ways to promote inclusivity in the classroom is to foster an inclusive environment. Encourage students to contribute and set clear expectations for how you’d like students to interact with each other so as to keep a certain level of respect and fairness. As the educational facilitator, it’s important that you show respect for all comments and questions and provide an atmosphere where students feel safe to contribute.

Celebrating Schools That Practice Inclusivity and Diversity

Scranton Products recently held a national competition where schools were encouraged to create videos about inclusivity and diversity. The winning school, Williamsburg Christian Academy, was awarded $50,000 in Duralife Lockers and $7,500 in scholarships as the first place prize.

Serving students in grades K-12, Williamsburg Christian Academy demonstrated a wide variety of inclusivity, which takes place in many aspects of school life. Students and faculty worked together to create the winning video, which was selected during a public voting round into the TOP 100 videos. The video was then chosen by a panel of judges for the first place prize.

How to Stop Vandalism and Graffiti in School Bathrooms

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Removing graffiti and repairing vandalism can cost your school a lot of money and how to stop vandalism is not as easy as it seems.

Not only that, but it can also give people the impression that your school is unsafe or not well maintained. To promote a positive learning environment and reduce expenses, many administrators are looking for new ways to prevent graffiti and other forms of vandalism from happening in the first place

Because vandalism is typically carried out in solitude, bathrooms are frequently targeted. For that reason, this post will concentrate on how to stop vandalism and graffiti in school bathrooms.

Act Quickly to Remove Signs of Vandalism & Graffiti

One thing that tends to promote graffiti is the existence of other vandalism. That’s why it’s important to have your custodial staff remove graffiti as soon as it’s spotted. Even waiting until the next day could inspire other acts of vandalism and lower the perceived quality and safety of your institution. Keep in mind that complete graffiti prevention is virtually impossible, but you can keep the instance of vandalism down by acting quickly.

commercial restroom cleaning

The same is also true for repairs. A bathroom with malfunctioning toilets, broken mirrors, or other issues isn’t only inconvenient, it can impact the way others treat the space. A well-maintained bathroom will likely encourage occupants to treat it with respect. A school bathroom that’s in poor condition, on the other hand, could suffer from further misuse.

Consider Using a Labyrinth Entrance

A labyrinth entrance is a design tactic that uses a turning hallway instead of a door to provide privacy into the bathroom. This type of entrance can help to reduce the occurrence of vandalism in two ways. First, it makes the distinct sounds of vandalism more noticeable by those outside the bathroom. This helps to remove a level of secrecy that most vandals hide behind.

The second way that a labyrinth entrance can help to prevent graffiti and vandalism is that there’s no door to sound an alert to vandals that security personnel is coming. Since the vandals can’t tell if someone is about to walk in and catch them in the act, they’re less likely to attempt to vandalize the bathroom.

Removing the doors on bathrooms and using a labyrinth entrance instead is also one way to keep bathrooms germ-free.

Use Graffiti-Resistant Materials

One of the most effective ways to prevent graffiti in your school bathrooms is to use graffiti-resistant materials like HDPE. HDPE, or high-density polyethylene, is a plastic material that’s resistant to graffiti, scratches, corrosion, and even germs. This durable material can be used in a variety of applications in the bathroom, including the stalls and vanities. As an added precaution, HDPE can be manufactured in a variety of colors with rough textures to create an undesirable surface for would be vandals to leave graffiti on.

You should avoid using materials like smooth steel and wood, which are easily damaged and defaced.

Above all, if you want to stop vandalism and graffiti in the bathrooms at your school, start by concentrating on keeping your facility clean and in good working condition. If you’d like to learn more about graffiti-resistant HDPE, contact Scranton Products today.

Commercial Bathroom Design & Trends

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Commercial bathrooms have come a long way from being merely utilitarian to now incorporating commercial bathroom design and trends that have a sense of style and pride within a facility. It makes a difference for occupants when the restroom is of a higher quality when it comes to appearance and design.

So, what are the latest commercial bathroom trends? They are top-notch materials and a relaxing, almost therapeutic design aesthetic. All in all, people are looking for upscale public restrooms with high-end materials, commercial bathrooms that feel more like home, and design influences that match the environment around them in a way that’s comforting and relaxing. There are new and exciting commercial bathroom designs that architects are using to stay with the forward trends.

Let’s take a closer look at these trends and see what we can learn about improving our bathroom designs for a much more pleasant and stylistic appearance, as well as a comfortable experience for future occupants.

commercial bathroom design

 

Added Sophistication

People rarely think of luxury and sophistication when talking about public bathrooms, but now that’s exactly what people want. High-end materials like granite and stainless steel are making their way from the kitchen to the restroom, providing a high-quality experience for occupants. Incorporating these materials, or materials that look like granite or stainless steel, into your commercial bathroom help to elevate the design quality of these commercial bathrooms.

While choosing stylish materials can add a much-needed sophistication to the commercial restroom, you may want to rethink your strategy so you can make your public restroom sustainable and clean. Wooden and stainless steel partitions do add to the bathroom’s stylistic appeal, but they’re also susceptible to unwanted mold growth due to the high volume of moisture and humidity in the bathroom. Mold can eventually work its way into the interior of these materials, causing foul odors and a major decline in air quality.

Utilizing durable materials like HDPE (high-density polyethylene) to replace traditional materials has numerous benefits. HDPE is resistant to humidity and moisture due to its solid plastic construction, and unsightly mold won’t grow, resulting in foul smells and less-than-stellar air quality. Architects and designers realize that using this material has many benefits in both appearance and function. Plus, bathroom partitions like Eclipse Partitions from Scranton Products feature no-sight hardware, eliminate sight lines, and have various privacy options.

 

Check out our traditional, warm tone, metallic and bold colors combined with our contour or rotary brushed textures to add some luxury and sophistication to your next bathroom project.

 

There’s No Place Like Home

When it comes to bathrooms, there’s nothing like having your own private space. So it’s no surprise that one of the hottest commercial bathroom design trends happening now is creating a spa-like bathroom with premium materials. Designers are also replacing the bright, florescent lighting, often the hallmark of public bathrooms, with softer incandescent down lighting to make it easier on the eyes and to provide a more comfortable and welcoming environment without the harsh lights becoming bothersome to occupants.

While privacy is one of the most important factors when designing a bathroom, function is equally as important when designing your commercial bathroom or public restroom. Architects and bathroom designers are utilizing more durable materials like HDPE when creating the stalls and partitions. HDPE materials that are being used have the benefits of being scratch- and graffiti-resistant. Due to these choices, replacements aren’t as frequent because the HDPE material can last for a long time.

Designers know to use these durable partitions for the benefit of having a long-lasting partition without needing to conduct any repairs. However, they also understand that the occupant’s privacy is another major factor to consider with their design plans. Architects and designers are starting to incorporate privacy features like taller doors and privacy hinges. The privacy hinges serve a functional purpose, but due to their hidden placement, the stalls and partitions deliver a clear and solid look without unsightly metal hinges and parts from interfering with the stylistic appeal.

 

View our new Eclipse Partitions to add privacy and aesthetics to your next restroom project.

 

Keep a Common Theme

Designers are taking elements from the rest of a building’s interior design or the surrounding environment and bringing it into the restroom for a more coherent and seamless look. This goes way beyond the simple themed bathroom that pays homage to an era, a famous person, or a pop culture icon. Examples include the public restroom at Bryant Park in New York. This bathroom mimics the design of the nearby New York Public Library. Bryant Park’s public restrooms were so well received that they were voted number one by Virtual Tourist.

Meanwhile, the restrooms at Santa Monica Pier in California feature an undulating roof evoking thoughts of a vintage rollercoaster or the nearby ocean waves. This stylistic and thematic approach to bathroom design has garnished a great deal of attention and praise. The bathroom at The Muse Hotel in New York allows visitors to choose if they’re feeling envious, passionate, glamorous, rebellious, macho, or vain. This kind of fun approach has made the bathrooms in the Muse Hotel some of the more popular public restroom facilities in the New York City area.

What all these bathrooms have in common is a uniqueness that’s personal, original, and aesthetically pleasing. To add uniqueness to your next project, consider adding custom embossing like a school mascot, company logo, or other personalized details that not only add to the restroom’s aesthetics, but make the restrooms seem more a part of the whole building. This type of consistency adds a more pleasing appearance and a comfortable atmosphere for the occupants.

For more inspiration, check out our eBook for public bathroom design, Restroom Design for Commercial Facilities. Take notes and improve upon the designs to find your perfect commercial restroom.

Common HDPE Questions: What Is HDPE? Is HDPE Recyclable?

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is used in a wide variety of applications, from plastic milk containers to high school lockers. Despite its popularity, most people know very little about this versatile material.

In this post, we answer the most basic questions surrounding HDPE. That way you can have a better understanding of whether HDPE is right for your next project.

What Is HDPE?

HDPE is a durable thermoplastic material that resists dents, scratches, corrosion, graffiti, and mildew. It has a density that can range from 0.93-0.97 g/cm3 and a large strength-to-density ratio. HDPE also has little branching, which gives it stronger intermolecular forces and a higher tensile strength than LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene).

Who Discovered HDPE?

Technically, Karl Ziegler of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (now known as the Max Planck Institute) invented HDPE in 1953. As a result, he received a Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1963. But the road to HDPE started much earlier, somewhere near the end of the 19th century.

It was German chemist Hans von Pachmann who first observed a precipitate while working with a form of methane in ether. This compound was later identified as polymethylene, which is closely related to polyethylene.

Thirty years after that discovery, an American chemist created a high-density residue when he subjected ethylene to a large amount of pressure. While experimenting with ethylene at high pressures, the solid form of polyethylene was finally created by British chemists in 1935. The next step was Karl Ziegler’s process of using catalysts and low pressure for creating high-density polyethylene. Ziegler-Natta catalysts are still the most commonly used catalysts in polyethylene production today.

What Is HDPE Made From?

HDPE is made from carbon and hydrogen atoms that have been joined together to form high molecular weight products. Methane gas is converted into ethylene, which is then turned into polyethylene by applying heat and pressure.

While this overly simplified explanation might make it sound like HDPE is easy to produce, it’s important to remember it took scientists more than 53 years to figure out just the right process. That means it takes a properly equipped facility and a certain level of expertise to manufacture high-quality HDPE materials.

HDPEIs HDPE Recyclable?

Absolutely. In fact, it’s one of the easiest plastic polymers to recycle and is accepted at recycling facilities around the globe. HDPE is classified as a #2 plastic.

Once at the recycling plant, HDPE plastics are shredded and melted into pellets. These plastic pellets can then be used to create new HDPE products, such as bathroom partitions and cutting boards.

At Scranton Products, all of our products are made with recycled materials. They’re also, themselves, 100% recyclable.

Where Can I Learn More About HDPE?

Scranton Products has years of experience manufacturing HDPE products. We offer a wide variety of helpful resources on our website, designed to teach you more about HDPE plastics, our brands, and how they can improve your facility.

Learn more about high-density polyethylene or check out one of the many free resources available on our website.