Some of you might remember me mentioning that I’m redoing my kitchen. The countertop came in today, so I’ll be doing the sink plumbing soon. I could get traps with external drains and drain them into a watering can. I’ve started using a solid block, all natural dish soap. I think it would be a good way to cut down on water usage and waste. What about everyone else?
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What’s in the soap?
There are quite a few YouTube videos and other articles on using grey water. There’s several things to consider, but in general I think it’s a good thing. I know I’m careful about laundry products because my washer has a French drain.
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One thing to consider is the pH of the all natural soap. If it is decidedly alkaline, as is typical soap, don’t use it for plants that prefer acidic soil.
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Copied from the seller’s website. Keep in mind it will be pretty diluted with all of the water.
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (plant-derived), Decyl Glucoside (plant-derived), Sodium Cocoate (plant-derived), Quillaja Saponaria (from the South American soap bark tree - organic), Glycerin (plant-derived), Aloe Vera Leaf (organic), Purified Water, Sodium Carbonate (mineral-derived)
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Those ingredients are fine. The sodium carbonate is alkaline, so take that into account regarding the pH preferences of your plants.
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A quick search on the products looks good for grey water use.
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I’m not sure about this, but mixing in some decomposing oaks leaves with the dishwater could neutralize some of the alkalinity. You could experiment and test the resulting pH.
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Spent coffee grounds might work, too.
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From Day Zero Cape Town. In the worst of that summer drought, I distributed our laundry water in the garden too. Now we discard the soapy dishwater, but the rinsing water goes to cans, then the garden. I have rain tanks - and use that water for pots of ‘offended’ plants. But the potted roses for example flourish on whatever water I give them.
Laundry and dishwashing I use Pro-Bac products which are environment friendly. Returning grey water to your garden, to recharge groundwater, and use the ‘nutrients’ in your plants instead of the Silvermine River and Atlantic Ocean here - tick one. Reducing the volume of water to the sewage works - tick 2. Reducing our household water demand (why use clean drinking water in the garden??) - tick 3. And we flush with grey water from our shower - tick 2 more (halve our consumption and our contribution to sewage)
Hard landscaping in cities gathers rainwater - discards it to sewage works or stormwater - and off to the rivers and oceans. Then, the city complains about lack of water …
Our garden is green . Tiny suburban patch with a green view for every window 
and trimmed back on our hell strip so the cars can whizz by.
PS for a while I did Ivy league laundry
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About pH, you can get cheap electronic devices to measure pH quite easily.
I measured the pH in a small pond, with a lot of dead leaves in it, and it was always much more alkaline than rain water stored in a separate container.
Obviously the pond is also “rain water”, just with much more organic content, a few plants and small wildlife, but it’s pH is 8.2 [7.5 - 9 pH], while stored rain water on the same location is 5.3 [4.8 - 6.2 pH].
In your case pH would probably depend on the tap water itself, more than anything else… so if you already use it for your plants, my guess is that grey water should not be an issue.
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There is an old story from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. The orchards in the area had an ongoing problem with droughty spot and corky core. Mysteriously, one tree in an orchard seemed resistant. What was different about this tree? It later emerged that the tree was close to the house, and the lady of the house discarded her wash water at the base of the tree. She used borax in her wash. About the same time it was discovered that boron was an essential micronutrient, and Okanagan soils were boron deficient. In effect, the lady was fertilizing the tree closest to her house with boron, and other nutrients.
The history of the wash water/corky core/droughty spot connection is documented here:
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Washing soda (sodium carbonate), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), or white vinegar (dilute acetic acid) are good cleaning agents that are less harmful to the environment. They may suffice for lightly soiled surfaces. The first and second are alkyline and may be neutralized by the third. Also, see lesfreck1’s comment about borax (sodium borate), below.
Dyes and fragrances of laundry detergent and the like are often slow to degrade and serve no cleaning function. When I use laundry detergent, I find a tablespoon suffices and leaves no residue.
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