Recycling water in your home

Does the phrase ‘recycled water’ sound a little strange to you? We’re so used to recycling items, making something new from something old, that we forget how recycling can be used on almost anything, including water. However, before your mind starts to go wild with gruesome thoughts, recycling water is completely safe to do so and some homes across the world have been doing it for decades – especially in water-scarce countries. So, let’s see if we can take some influence from them and look at recycled water in our homes.

Recycled water in your bathroom 

The bathroom is the most water-intensive area in the home. A 5-minute shower on average uses about 75 litres. A single flush of the loo is around 6 litres. Plus, there’s all the essential washings of hands which over 20 seconds can use 2 litres. Every time you visit the bathroom, you’ll use a minimum of 8 litres.  

Now, imagine, over the course of the day, you have a shower (at the average UK duration of 8 minutes) and go to the toilet on the UK average of 6 times in a 24-hour period. That’s 168 litres in one day – not even counting you drinking, cooking or cleaning anything with water. While the UK average is a little under 150 litres, the target is to reach as close to 100 litres as possible. Could you do this? One way to reduce consumption is to recycle water where possible. Here’s an idea of how: 

We’ve all done it. Gone to have a shower, turned it on, then started getting undressed. Perhaps used the loo, quickly grabbed another shampoo bar from the cupboard. All the while waiting for the water to heat up. Wasting the water. 

Instead of letting that water go down the drain, why not collect it. You can do this in a number of ways. Put the plughole in the bottom of the tub or if you have a shower cubicle grab a bucket. It’s up to you how you recycle this water, but we recommend flushing your toilet. It can be difficult transporting a decent amount of water throughout your home so make it easy for yourself and use it to flush the loo. You might even go the extra mile and collect as much of your 75 litres as possible from the shower and use it for flushing the loo throughout the day! 

Recycled water in your kitchen 

Kitchens are second to the bathroom in their water intensiveness. But depending on your home and how you use it, there’s a real chance it could be the worst! A lot of water usage comes from cooking and cleaning. Boiling your pasta and then washing up the pot afterwards, for example. Now, there are plenty of water-free cooking methods you can try, but we’re looking at recycling water and there’s just as many golden nuggets of information in this area. 

If you go out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, there’s no doubt plenty of pasta on the menu. Do you think that for every single portion of pasta boiled, they empty and fill the pot each time? No, they have boiling water that they reuse. It’s why going to an Italian later in the evening is a good idea – the pasta has the best flavour. 

When you cook pasta (or boil any food) there are a few ways to recycle the water. Either pop it in a container and in the fridge – ready to use again when you next cook pasta or make soup. Alternatively, you can use it to wash the dishes afterwards. Pasta releases a lot of natural starches into the water, making it perfect for cleaning with. Imagine all the water you could recycle by pouring it into dirty pots and pans that need to soak. Instead of running the tap, why not pour from your collected cooking water jar? 

Recycling water elsewhere in your home 

Remember that recycling water just means giving it another purpose. A pint of tap water is only 0.2g CO2e on your carbon footprint but pouring it down the drain triples it due to processes for treating wastewater. Therefore, before you put anything into your drains ask yourself if it can be recycled. 

That glass of water that’s been sitting on the side for a few days. Don’t pour it down the drain, use it to water houseplants or soak dirty dishes. Installing a water butt in your garden can collect a lot of clean water that’s perfect for cleaning your home with. Any water that you go to pour down the drain can be used to flush the toilet instead. So, remember, all water in your home can be recycled – even water that you’ve used to clean muddy vegetables with.

Recycling water. Seems a bit gross at first, doesn’t it? But once you realise that you’re not drinking toilet water, and actually it’s incredibly easy, efficient and enjoyable to do – it’s a great way to reduce your daily consumption. By recycling as much water in your home as possible each day, you’ll be hitting below average on the UK’s daily usage. Potentially below 100 litres a day too! Let us know how you used recycled water in your home in the comments below.