Composting and kitchen waste water (garden, system, house, detergent)

[Chaka]

This is sort of a gardening issue but also very much a green issue.

In looking into water conservation options in our household, one thing considered was using kitchen waste water (placing a bucket under the sink). However, I've read this is considered black water, due to a potential high bacteria content from kitchen scraps.

Apart from meat, if it's only vegetables, how is this different from composting with kitchen scraps?

Can't be from handwashing, since bathroom sink water is considered grey.

[seanpecor]

It's considered black water because it has a much higher concentration of not only bacteria but viruses as well. I would highly recommend you avoid it. Kitchen sink drainage water will presumably contain the bacteria and viruses that you might successfully clean from your produce, and it will almost certainly contain such things as E. Coli, Salmonella, etc, on utensils used to prepare raw meat for cooking. Kitchen scraps collected from uneaten food from dinner plates may indeed contain meat - but the meat has been cooked - so its much more safe to handle. In summary, the black water will likely have a high concentration of bacteria and viruses that would remain in and contaminate your vegetable garden and make you and your family _much_ more at risk for infection. Its not worth the risk.

Sean

[Ohiogirl81]

It would be safer (and requires no tinkering with plumbing) to use only the water you use to wash dishes with. Instead of dumping it down the drain, use a dishpan and it's easy to haul the water outside. And the detergent in the water will deter bugs in your garden.

[sterlinggirl]

A trick I learned from a plugged drain....get a couple buckets, then fill one with soapy water and one with clean water. Leave them inside the sink, and use the buckets as sinks to wash the dishes. When you're done washing, take the buckets outside to dump.

[Chaka]

Thanks for the tip on the dishwater. That makes sense.

However I'm still a bit confused on the kitchen waste. I understand the potential meat contamination, but do you really wash each vegetable object before you put it into the compost? I always just toss it in there - e.g. if I have a vegetable or fruit I didn't eat fast enough and it's going off. I don't wash it. Similarly, we put eggshells in that aren't washed.

[STT Resident]

I'm with you Chaka - also confused. What several people do here where I live is reroute the plumbing from their kitchen and bathroom(s) into a separate tank (freestanding or in-ground) for irrigation purposes. NOT toilet flush water - that goes into a septic system and is never re-used.

I compost everything except meat scraps - including eggshells, coffee grounds and, of course, all veggie scraps. Cheers!

[tallrick]

I use all drain water except from the toilets to water the patch of grass I have. It runs into a holding tank, then is pumped to the grass through a filter screen. The water often contains soap residue and debris, which is skimmed off and sent to the septic tank.