Today’s Solutions: April 03, 2025

We recycle newspaper, bottles and cans. So why aren’t we recycling our own water? Instead, the water we use goes down the drain. But sewer systems are big, centralized systems that are expensive to maintain. So German wastewater engineer Erwin Nolde has come up with an alternative, which he’s now testing in a Berlin neighborhood. Here, 250 people are reusing kitchen and laundry water through an on-site treatment plant at their apartment block. His bigger vision to go off the water grid entirely. And so a Berlin seven-story public housing complex features a courtyard which has been converted into an “urban garden” with two functions: recycling rainwater from roofs into a greenhouse, and treating non-toxic greywater from apartments. “We can make high-quality drinking water from rainwater,” he says, “the rest of the water we can recycle several times.” While household greywater treatment systems aren’t new, apartment-sized ones are rare.

 

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Nine new tardigrade species discovered with help from Danish schoolchildren

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are small, resilient creatures that have fascinated scientists for decades. These tiny ...

Read More

Paris votes to pedestrianize 500 more streets in push for greener city

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a resounding show of support for a greener, more walkable city, Parisians voted to pedestrianize an additional ...

Read More

Turning waste into musical instruments for disadvantaged youths

In Spain, a creative social project aims to improve the lives of children from disadvantaged backgrounds through music, education, and recycling. The initiative, called ...

Read More

Hawaii is the first US state to enact ban on shark fishing

On the first day of the year, January 1st, 2022, Hawaii became the first state in the US to enact a ban on shark ...

Read More