The Chic Ecologist

Recycle Your Greywater Into Your Landscaping

Harvesting rainwater is a great way to reuse the free water from the sky, however, unless you have a lot of rain barrels and a lot of rain, the dry season will cut your supply short- or will it? Grey water is another great source to recycle from since it is just being wasted by going down the drain.

Greywater is non-sewage waste water from your sinks, bathtub and laundry drains that is safe for your yard. The benefit to recycling or reusing this water is that it recharges aquifers and waters your plants while nature cleans the water. It is even better if the only thing going down the drain are natural cleaners, detergents and soaps. An individual may produce 15,600 gallons of greywater a year, all of which is wasted by going down the drain when it can be safely used on landscaping. Buckets have been used to collect this water from bathtubs, but can be cumbersome and labor intensive and there are easier ways.

Flotender has a great automated system that acts as a collection, storage and irrigation system all in one. Available for your rain collection devices as well, this system gathers your rainwater or greywater and pumps it out to your landscaping through a drip irrigation system. They have other systems available so you can customize the irrigation system to your needs, but they all use the same principle- collect the recycled water and distribute it to your plants. Hook it up to your rain barrels, tap it into your greywater drains and never have to water your yard again!

Related posts:

1. Don’t Recycle Soda and Sparkling Water Bottles
2. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
3. Eco Friendly Green Driveways – A Living Permeable Driveway, Porous and Alive
4. Can I Recycle This, and Where?
5. Eco Friendly Golf Course? Justin Timberlake’s Mirimichi

Tags: eco friendly, green, greywater recycling, Home, irrigation, reclaimed, recycling, reuse, water

3 Comments to Recycle Your Greywater Into Your Landscaping

1. 

   I have always wanted to do that! Living in an apartment or just not owning our own home has put the breaks on that. Hopefully one day soon!
Carla on January 25th, 2010
2. 

   I’m definitely going to give it a go this summer. Today we had buckets of rain and I was thinking about ways to use the water,this was educational.
Jacqueline on January 25th, 2010
3. 

   Carla,
   I know what you mean, but there are some benefits of living in an apartment as well, mainly that you just have a smaller footprint in general.

   Jacqueline,
   Yeah, isn’t that great? It’s so such a great idea, I didn’t expect it to be so easy to pull off. Plus it works better than trying to water with buckets.
Jean-Paul on January 27th, 2010

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