(This is the second post in an at least three part series about ways in which renters can reuse greywater. For a definition of greywater, and why it’s a good idea to recycle it, check this out. For the first post, go here.)
Following up from Monday’s post about greywater re-use using the p-trap disconnect method, here’s one about washing dishes in a water-efficient manner while capturing the washwater for flushing toilets (or irrigation, but that’ll be covered later).
New Ways To Wash
Dishwashing technique seem to be a touchy subject for a lot of people. Everyone seems to think that they know the fastest, most efficient way of doing it. And maybe YOU do. But at risk of offending some readers by suggesting that their dishwashing techniques could use an efficiency makeover, here are some tips from Apartment Therapy’s Re-Nest blog. (Original post here. )
- Start with two basins: if you don’t have a two basin sink, fill a large pot with soapy water.
- Use an eco-friendly dishwashing detergent: you probably only need a capful or two.
- Scrape your dishes well: empty the scrapings into the [...] composter [...]
- Let the well-scraped dishes soak in the soapy water.
- Plug your sink: ideally, place a second basin in your sink.
- Rinse the soapy dishes under a thin stream of cold running water no wider than your thumb.
- Use the greywater: to flush the toilet. [This is my recommendation, the original post had other suggestions that I think are poor uses of the water, or potentially hazardous to plants without more information than was provided.]
For a bit more about using greywater to flush the toilet, see Greywater for Renters Part 1.
Water from the kitchen sink is also great to use for irrigation in the garden, but there are a few things to consider before you start dumping dishtubs full of water all over the place. That will be the focus of a post next Tuesday an upcoming post.
In the meantime, how do YOU do the dishes?
Tags: greywater, home eco-nomics, kitchen, working around landlords