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Calling all green inventors – invent this toilet

January 13th, 2010

It has been a few days now since we have started learning about greywater and its impact on the environment. As part of this week’s challenge, I have turned off the water to my toilet and have been filling it with the greywater from my bath/shower using a bucket. Having done this for the past few days has shown me the light on just how messed up our bathrooms, as a society, are. Why don’t bathrooms have a direct line from the tub/shower to the toilet?

In my bathroom, the toilet tank is literally 4 feet from the bathtub drain. So, instead of moving water extremely long distances (sometimes hundreds of miles) to just go down the toilet, why can’t it make the 4 ft journey from my drain to the toilet tank? The current system is not only environmentally unfriendly, but also a burden on the water bill and plain old wasteful. If I am flying from LA to NY, there is no reason to go the long way, is there?

I just don’t think it needs to be that difficult. Where are the products that are under $1000 dollars to do this? Where is the tube that goes straight from the tub to the pooper? Maybe you, my readers, can fill me in on this ‘technology’ that I am missing out on.

This product could be out there and I just have not seen it yet, but it should be made available all over the place. Possibly, I am over simplifying this… but am I? It seems much simpler to have a device move 19 gallons of water (average toilet water used by a family) over just a few feet than hundreds of miles and through numerous chemical processes.

My rant is over and please let me know if you know of such a device. Well, I know of such a device and it is called “a bucket” and it works on “me” power. Let me know your story or advice in the comment area below.

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Posted in earth, Week 13 Using Greywater

Tags: bathroom greywater

Reusing Greywater can help reduce your environmental impact

January 11th, 2010

It is a new week and Ashley has assigned me a new green challenge. This week the environmental task is to learn about grey water and make some changes that can help reuse, recycle or reduce. I am vaguely familiar with the term ‘grey water’, so this should be an interesting week.

The internet defines grey water as “Greywater, also known as sullage, is non-industrial wastewater generated from domestic processes such as dish washing, laundry and bathing.” So, I guess my task for the week is to learn about the waste we produce in these household tasks and try and implement changes that can help reduce or recover this water.

I was hoping not to be one of those crazy people who fill buckets from bathwater for household use, but I think I just might cross that line this week. Who am I really kidding anyhow? I have been slightly crazy from the beginning. I hope you join me on this week’s green journey learning about, and acting to recycle, grey water. Please let me know if you have any stories or tips on how you use your greywater.

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Posted in earth, Week 13 Using Greywater

Tags: greywater

Packaging sucks. Avoid packaging.

December 29th, 2009

When given a new green challenge by Ashley, I have found it a useful exercise to examine why following the given task is a good idea. This week’s green challenge is to reduce the amount of packaging I use and try to eliminate as much packaging as possible. To eliminate packaging completely is pretty much impossible, but it is certainly a worthwhile endeavor to use as little packaging as possible.

In a previous week, and with the help of our NatureMill composter, we worked to reduce the amount of food waste we produce. Besides the food that cannot be used or composted, what else is there that goes into the garbage? Some people put diapers in the garbage. Most of us have paper waste, but hopefully we are trying to recycle what we can. What is left? Packaging.

A good chunk of the packaging in our landfills is Styrofoam. 25% of our landfills are made up of Styrofoam. I am sure part of this 25% is Styrofoam coffee cups (which could generally be avoided), but part of this is the packaging that we send and receive. Everything from the Styrofoam eggshells to molded Styrofoam packaging goes straight into the garbage. This material cannot be disposed of in an eco-friendly way (that I am aware of) and should be avoided.

Besides Styrofoam, which I am learning to be evil, there are other reasons to avoid as much packaging as possible. If Styrofoam takes up 25% of the landfill, I wonder what the percentage is for all packaging waste. Even if you buy a product that uses recycled packaging and you recycle it yourself, it still takes resources to recover that material. Somebody needs to pick up the item in a carbon emitting vehicle, go through an industrial (and likely carbon emitting) process to change the item into whatever, then turn around and transport the item back out to the public. A recycled product is a way BETTER way to consume, but avoiding the waste packaging product altogether is BEST for the environment.

Avoiding packaging will always be better for the environment. I already have some ideas on great ways that we can avoid packaging further and sure I will have a list coming up in the near future. Please let me know any information you have or what you do to reduce your packaging waste in the comments area below.