Household cleaning and personal care products
If you have decided that using greywater for garden irrigation is the best option for your house, you need to consider your greywater quality.
The products you use in your home determine how detrimental the greywater impact will be on your plants and soils. Interestingly, even if you DON’T use greywater many of these impacts still have to be managed at great expense by your local sewage treatment plant, particularly salt removal for recycled water use.
The GreySmart Household Product Assessment has been designed to assist you with making an informed decision, based on the latest research and sound knowledge of household cleaning and personal care products. This methodology has been applied to household cleaning products in body wash, cleaning and hair categories.
Initially 142 different cleaning agents (available in Australia) were assessed, using data from the research. Only 16% of cleaning agents assessed were considered environmentally safe for use of the greywater from the clothes wash only cycle to irrigate the household garden. From this a number of cleaning agents were analysed to establish their GreySmart credentials.
The GreySmart Household Product Assessment tool identifies two levels of GreySmart products:
- GreySmart – Ideal for use if greywater will be used to irrigate the garden
- GreySmart with care – Ok for use if greywater will be used to irrigate the garden but will probably need some management of the soil within a year or two (e.g. pH adjustment, nutrient management of addition of gypsum, lime or organic matter to manage soil structural changes).
If you would like to submit a product for assessment please contact greysmart@savewater.com.au