LCA results & interpretation Aurora™ One-Piece Toilet
Scope and summary
- Cradle to gate
- Cradle to gate with options
- Cradle to grave
Functional unit
One single flush toilet in an average residential environment without an electronic bidet seat. The expected service life (ESL) of a building is 75 years, and all use stage activity and impacts are accounted for in that full ESL period. The reference service life (RSL) of the toilet is 20 years, which is an industry-accepted average lifespan based on the economic lifespan of the product. The Aurora™ 1.28gpf toilet is a single flush toilet with a flush capacity of 1.28 gallons per flush.
Maintenance
Regular cleaning is assumed to use 1.69 fl oz (50mL) of a 1% sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) solution twice per month over a 75 years. The use of 50mL over 24days/year for 75 years gives a total of 90L of solution. Therefore, 0.9kg of SLS plus 89.1kg of water were included in the model.
Repair and replacement
The trip lever handle, flapper seal, and fill valve seal are assumed to be replaced once during each 20-year RSL period as part of regular repairs, with replacement waste sent to landfill. At the end of its RSL, the residential toilet is assumed to be replaced. Therefore, an additional 2.75 products are included as replacements, with all life cycle modules considered, over the building's ESL of 75 years.
Manufacturing data
Reporting period: January 2025 – December 2025
Location: TOTO Vietnam manufacturing facility (TVN) in Hanoi, Vietnam
What’s causing the greatest impacts
All life cycle stages
The use stage dominates the results for all impact categories. The replacements module (B4) is highly dominant in all categories because of the necessity to consider an additional 2.75 products as replacements and operational water use. The production stage itself is slightly significant but does not dominate in any impact category. Additionally, the processes associated with dismantling the product and final waste treatment during the end-of-life stage do not have a significant impact.
Production stage [A1-A3]
Product manufacturing (A3) follows the impacts from raw material acquisition (A1), with insignificant impacts from raw material transportation (A2). Most of the impacts within A3 come from energy usage in the ceramic manufacturing operations.
Distribution and installation [A4-A5]
Distribution (A4) and installation (A5) are minor contributors to the total results. Transporting the finished product contributes to smog formation, with the majority of impacts arising from sea transport from Vietnam to the United States and subsequent road transport to end users.
Use [B1-B7]
Environmental impacts are driven by product replacement (B4) and operational water use (B7). The impacts of those 2.75 replacements account for 30%-65% of the total impacts. Operational water use is the leading contributor to three impact categories across the product life cycle: ozone depletion, carcinogenics, and global warming. It is also the second-largest contributor in the remaining impact categories. More than 98% of each of those comes from municipal sewage treatment of wastewater generated.
End-of-life stage [C1-C4]
The transportation to landfill and the disposal process dominate impacts in the end-of-life stage. Impacts associated with the end-of-life stage are minimal, accounting for less than 1% of total life cycle impacts.
Operational water use
The incoming municipal tap water does not require additional filtration. The amount of water used by the toilet depends on its flush rate. The 1.28gpf toilet consumes 1.28 gallons per flush and is assumed to be used 13 times per day over 75 years. This equates to 4,745 flushes per year and 355,875 flushes over the 75-year ESL, resulting in 455,520 gallons of water over its lifetime. An electricity factor of 0.00364 kWh per gallon (0.000961 kWh per liter) of water is used to represent energy for upstream municipal water collection, treatment, supply, and downstream management.
How we're making it greener
TOTO PeoplePlanetWater™ programs improving environmental performance
- Dual-Max®, E-Max®, Tornado Flush™, 1G®, and EcoPower® reduce water consumption in the use phase
- INTEGRAVITY SYSTEM™ optimizes cleaning power with less water
- Energy efficiency programs optimize the firing process
- Modular packing methods increase the fill rate of a trailer, cutting down on the number of trips needed
- 100% of post-industrial ceramic waste is recycled
LCA results
| Life cycle stage | Production | Construction | USE | End of Life |
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Information modules: |
(X) A1 Raw materials | (X) A4 Transportation/ Delivery | (X) B1 Use | (X) C1 Deconstruction/ Demolition |
| (X) A2 Transportation | (X) A5 Construction/ Installation | (X) B2 Maintenance | (X) C2 Transportation | |
| (X) A3 Manufacturing | (X) B3 Repair | (X) C3 Waste processing | ||
| (X) B4 Replacement | (X) C4 Disposal | |||
| (X) B5 Refurbishment | ||||
| (X) B6 Operational energy use | ||||
| (X) B7 Operational water use | ||||
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SM Single Score
Learn about SM Single Score results| Impacts per functional unit | 1.55E+01 mPts | 1.94E+00 mPts | 2.00E+02 mPts | 8.21E-02 mPts |
| Materials or processes contributing >20% to total impacts of each life cycle stage | Ceramic parts production and energy used during manufacturing. | Transportation of the product to installation site or consumer and disposal of packaging. | Volume of water used during operation and the number of product replacements needed over the building's service life. | Transport to waste processing and disposal of material flows transported to a landfill. |
Aurora™ 1.28gpf - TRACI v2.2 results per functional unit
| Life cycle stage | Production | Construction | USE | End of Life |
Ecological damage
Human health damage
Additional environmental information
| Impact category | Unit | ||||
| Carcinogenics | CTUh Comparative Toxic Units of Human cancerous toxicity Carcinogens have the potential to form cancers in humans. |
3.06E-06 | 1.57E-07 | 4.72E-05 | 1.21E-08 |
| Non-carcinogenics | CTUh Comparative Toxic Units of Human non-cancerous toxicity Non-Carcinogens have the potential to causes non-cancerous adverse impacts to human health. |
3.36E-05 | 1.47E-06 | 3.24E-04 | 9.86E-08 |
| Ecotoxicity | CTUe Comparative Toxic Units of Ecotoxicity Ecotoxicity causes negative impacts to ecological receptors and, indirectly, to human receptors through the impacts to the ecosystem. |
1.64E+02 | 2.78E+01 | 1.50E+03 | 1.88E+00 |
References
LCA Background Report
Life cycle assessment (LCA) of TOTO Aurora toilets, 2026; TRACI v2.2, CML, and Cumulative Energy Demand (LHV) impact assessment methodologies; SimaPro Developer 10.3; ecoinvent v3.11, US-EI 2.2, and Industry data 2.0.
ISO 14025, “Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works -- Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services”
ISO 21930:2017, "Sustainability in Building Construction — Environmental Declaration of Building Products" serves as the core PCR along with Sustainable Minds Part A.
SM Part A: LCA calculation rules and report requirements, version 2023
August, 2023. PCR review conducted by the Sustainable Minds TAB, [email protected].
SM Part B: Residential toilets, v3.0
May, 2022. PCR review conducted by Jack Geibig, Chair (Ecoform) [email protected]; Hugues Imbeault-Tétreault, ing., M.Sc.A. (Groupe AGÉCO); Rebe Feraldi, LCACP, CLAR (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory).
Download PDF SM Transparency Report [EPD]™
SM Transparency Reports (TR) are ISO 14025 Type III environmental declarations (EPD) that enable purchasers and users to compare the potential environmental performance of products on a life cycle basis. They are designed to present information transparently to make the limitations of comparability more understandable. Environmental declarations of products that conform to the same PCR and include the same life cycle stages, but are made by different manufacturers, may not sufficiently align to support direct comparisons. They therefore cannot be used as comparative assertions unless the conditions as defined in ISO 14025 Section 6.7.2. ‘Requirements for Comparability’ are satisfied. In order to support comparative assertions, this EPD meets all comparability requirements stated in ISO 14025:2006. However, differences in certain assumptions, data quality, and variability between LCA data sets may still exist. Any EPD comparison must be carried out at the building level per ISO 21930 guidelines, use the same sub-category PCR where applicable, include all relevant information modules, be limited to EPDs applying a functional unit, and be based on equivalent scenarios with respect to the context of construction works. Some LCA impact categories and inventory items are still under development and can have high levels of uncertainty. To promote uniform guidance on the data collection, calculation, and reporting of results, the ACLCA methodology (ACLCA 2019) was used.
SM Transparency Report (EPD) 