Search Results (25)

Global water scarcity is becoming an increasingly critical issue; greywater reuse presents a promising solution to alleviate pressure on freshwater resources, particularly in arid and water-scarce regions. Greywater typically sourced from household activities such as laundry, bathing, and dishwashing, constitutes a significant portion of domestic wastewater. However, the reuse of greywater raises concerns about the potential risks posed by its complex composition. Despite the growing body of literature on greywater reuse, most studies only focus on specific contaminants, thus there is a limited understanding of the comprehensive profile of contaminants, health, and environmental effects associated with these pollutants. This review adds new knowledge through a holistic exploration of the composition and physico-chemical characteristics of greywater, with a focus on its organic and inorganic pollutants, heavy metals, EDCs, emerging microplastics, nanoparticles, and microbial agents such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa. This review sheds light on the current state of knowledge regarding greywater pollutants and their associated risks while highlighting the importance of safe reuse. Additionally, this review highlights the removal of contaminants from greywater and the sustainable use of grey water for addressing water scarcity in affected regions. Full article

This paper examines housework reallocation during China’s stringent pandemic lockdowns in 2020, where individuals were homebound and job-free while employment status remained unchanged. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, it analyzes 1669 surveys and 100 interviews to understand changes in domestic labor patterns and the underlying reasons. The findings indicate that men increased their participation in grocery shopping but decreased in cooking, cleaning, and laundry during the lockdown. This gender-task pattern was mirrored in multi-generational households, where younger family members often took on these tasks. The reasons articulated for these shifts predominantly converged around the ‘doing gender’ theory. Women, particularly those working full-time, had more time to engage in household chores. Men, while also having more available time, predominantly focused on grocery shopping, a task that gained masculine connotations during the lockdown. Factors such as perceived differences in household labor quality, difficulty delegating housework, and reduced workload led to women’s increased involvement and specialization in domestic tasks. The study challenges the notion that economic factors are the primary drivers of gender-based division of housework. Instead, it suggests that ingrained gender norms continue to dictate domestic roles, as evidenced during the lockdown period devoid of usual economic and time pressures. Full article

Since currently used natural, nonrenewable phosphorus resources are estimated to be depleted in the next 30–200 years, phosphorus recovery from any phosphorus-rich residues has attracted great interest. In this study, phosphorus recovery from complex wastewater samples was investigated using continuous adsorption on cryogel column composited calcium silicate hydrate nanoparticles (CSH columns). The results showed that 99.99% of phosphate was recovered from a synthetic water sample (50 mg L⁻¹) using a 5 cm CSH column with a 5 mL min⁻¹ influent flow rate for 6 h while 82.82% and 97.58% of phosphate were recovered from household laundry wastewater (1.84 mg L⁻¹) and reverse osmosis concentrate (26.46 mg L⁻¹), respectively. The adsorption capacity decreased with an increasing flow rate but increased with increasing initial concentration and column height, and the obtained experimental data were better fitted to the Yoon–Nelson model (R² = 0.7723–0.9643) than to the Adams–Bohart model (R² = 0.6320–0.8899). The adsorption performance of phosphate was decreased 3.65 times in the presence of carbonate ions at a similar concentration, whereas no effect was obtained from nitrate and sulfate. The results demonstrate the potential of continuous-flow phosphate adsorption on the CSH column for the recovery of phosphate from complex wastewater samples. Full article

Consumer choice modeling takes center stage as we delve into understanding how personal preferences of decision makers (customers) for products influence demand at the level of the individual. The contemporary choice theory is built upon the characteristics of the decision maker, alternatives available for the choice of the decision maker, the attributes of the available alternatives and decision rules that the decision maker uses to make a choice. The choice set in our research is represented by six major brands (products) of laundry detergents in the Japanese market. We use the panel data of the purchases of 98 households to which we apply the hierarchical probit model, facilitated by a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation (MCMC) in order to evaluate the brand values of six brands. The applied model also allows us to evaluate the tangible and intangible brand values. These evaluated metrics help us to assess the brands based on their tangible and intangible characteristics. Moreover, consumer choice modeling also provides a framework for assessing the environmental performance of laundry detergent brands as the model uses the information on components (physical attributes) of laundry detergents. Through a comprehensive evaluation of product performance, including brand tangible estimation, we shed light on the sustainability attributes of laundry detergents, offering a roadmap for consumers and manufacturers alike to make more informed, environmentally responsible choices of laundry detergents based on their physical attributes. Knowing the estimates of the attributes for the laundry detergent products, manufacturers can modify their physical attributes, e.g., decrease the amount of the detergent needed for one wash while increasing the total weight of the laundry powder in the package. In this way, more ecology- and consumer-friendly decisions can be made by manufacturers of laundry detergents. Full article

The pipeline direct drinking water system (PDDWS) has emerged to ensure the quality of direct drinking water. Nevertheless, the existing literature suggests that the PDDWS suffers from inherent structural technological deficiencies, and various internal and external factors hinder its reliability, which raise concerns about the scientific and rational basis of the PDDWS. To address these issues, a new-type terminal differentiated water system (TDWS) is proposed to establish an efficient and health-oriented household water supply system. A water purifier is directly installed at the user’s terminal, and, due to its diversion process, differentiated water is provided, including direct drinking water, clean water and flushing water. Direct drinking water can be produced on demand, without secondary contamination. Clean water is also not stored, thus preventing microbial growth and ensuring superior water quality compared to tap water, suitable for kitchen usage. Flushing water is mixed with tap water for laundry, bathing and toilet flushing. Engineering verification has demonstrated that the quality of the direct drinking water and the clean water exceeds national standards. With the diversion process, the TDWS exhibits benefits related to health, the economy, applicability and environmental friendliness, and it can serve as a supplement and innovation for the PDDWS. Full article

Superhydrophobic coatings have attracted substantial attention owing to their potential application in various industries. Conventional textiles used in daily life are prone to staining with water and household liquids, necessitating the development of water-repellent and stain-resistant coatings. In this study, we fabricated a highly water-repellent superhydrophobic PET fabric by using an eco-friendly water-based coating process. Fluorine-free octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) solutions with various wt.% of hollow silica (HS) nanoparticles were used to produce a superhydrophobic surface via a facile dip coating method. Our findings revealed that the incorporation of HS nanoparticles substantially increased the water contact angle, with higher concentrations resulting in enhanced water repellency and increased surface roughness. The treated fabrics had a remarkable water contact angle of 152.4° ± 0.8°, demonstrating their superhydrophobic fiber surface. In addition, the durability of these superhydrophobic properties was investigated via a laundry procedure, which showed that the fabrics maintained their water repellency even after 20 laundering cycles. EDX and XRD analyses confirmed that the morphological evaluations did not reveal any substantial structural alterations. Significantly, the fibers maintained their strength and durability throughout the testing, enduring only minor hollow SiO₂ nanoparticle loss. This eco-friendly and cost-effective method holds great potential for application in apparel and other industries, offering an effective solution to resist water stains and improve performance in various contexts. Full article

Microplastics are widespread in coastal and marine environments, and sediments serve as a sink for microplastics. In this study, four sediment cores were collected from the Kuala Gula Mangrove area. The abundance of microplastics in mangrove sediments ranged from 25–130 items/kg dry weight. The highest abundance of microplastic was observed at the KG04 site near the mouth of the river. The number of microplastics by sampling site was significantly different (p < 0.01), with station KG04 having the highest fiber content. The dominant color of microplastics was blue, and the main shape was fiber. Rayon, cotton, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and azlon were observed from FT-IR, indicating that the potential sources of microplastic and fiber could come from household laundry wastewater. Microplastics tended to accumulate in deeper depths at KG01 (p < 0.01), whereas other stations showed no significant difference (p > 0.05). However, this study provides evidence that mangroves can be a trap for microplastics and can be used as baseline data for future studies. Full article

Microfibers (MFs) are one of the most prevalent microplastic (MP) sub-groups found in the aquatic environment released from many sources, including household laundry. MPs pose risks to the growth rate of terrestrial/aquatic biota and through biomagnification. Although MFs can be ingested by humans, their toxic effects and potential impact on public health are not yet clearly understood. Moreover, the removal of MPs, including MFs, during wastewater treatment is a challenge, since treatment plants are not designed to collect them. Therefore, this work aims to study the potential of the in situ phytoremediation of microfibers from a domestic washing machine effluent by growing barley in a vertical hydroponic system. The temporal variation in barley growth, water quality parameters, length distribution of MFs, and their removal were evaluated over 4 weeks. We investigated the MFs’ interaction with two systems: without barley (System NP) (used as a control) and with barley (System P). The results show the barley growth is negatively affected at the end of 4 weeks, mainly by the accumulation of phosphate and the presence of fungi. However, the level of dissolved oxygen in System P is satisfactory and the presence of MFs decreases considerably (mainly for MFs > 600 µm) from different interactions with the barley roots. These interactions were corroborated by microscopy images. The total removal of MFs through the hydroponic system was 52% in week 2, decreasing to 42%. This is the first time that the removal of MFs has been evaluated using vertical hydroponics, which demonstrates that this phytoremediation system can be used at the household level. It also shows that vertical hydroponics, as an experimental methodology, for the analyses of MFs’ impacts on plant health has merit. It is expected that this study will contribute to new investigations of MF removal by green technologies. Full article

Textiles can be contaminated with pathogens during household laundering, potentially leading to human sickness. In this work, chitosan (CTS) was used as a substrate to prepare Ag/Cu-CTS composite, which was applied in laundering and showed a remarkable antibacterial effect on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The mechanical strength of Ag/Cu-CTS composite beads was higher than 400 MPa. The Ag/Cu-CTS composite were further characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. This composite had a strong inhibitory effect on several laundry pathogens, such as Acinetobacter sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans. Using a standard laundering program and 15 g of Ag/Cu-CTS composite beads, the antibacterial rates reached 99.9%, and no silver emission was detected, thereby satisfying the Chinese requirement for washing machines. After 160 runs of laundering tests, this composite still has an excellent antibacterial effect. For the first time, chitosan is successfully applied as an antibacterial material on household electric appliances. Full article

This paper presents a technology for applying copper and silver films to cotton fabrics by combining photochemical and chemical methods for the reduction of the compounds of these metals. The resulting metal-containing films have inherent electrical conductivity of metals. All the main processes described in the work were carried out by means of the compounds being sorbed by the surface of the fabric when they were wetted in appropriate solutions. The aim of the work was to study the application of electrically conductive composite copper films on cotton fabrics. The tasks to achieve this aim were to perform scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis to confirm that as a result of the experiment, CuCl with a semiconductor ability was formed on the surface of the sample. The driving force behind the photochemical reduction of copper and silver halides on cotton surfaces is that, as a result of the photooxidation of cellulose molecules in the fabric, copper monochloride is first formed on the cotton surface. Subsequently, the process of obtaining silver particles based on semiconductor silver chloride obtained as a result of the transformation of copper monochloride was carried out. The physicochemical and photochemical processes leading to the formation of monovalent copper chloride, which provides sufficient adhesion to the substrate, are considered. It is shown that in this case, the oxidation of monovalent copper also occurs with the formation of soluble salts that are easily removed by washing. Since the proposed technology does not require special equipment, and the chemical reagents used are not scarce, it can be used to apply bactericidal silver films to various household items and medical applications in ordinary laundries or at home. This article examines an affordable and simple technology for producing metal films on a cotton surface due to the presence of disadvantages (time duration, high temperature, scarce reagents, special installations, etc.) of a number of well-known methods in the production of chemical coatings. Full article

Chemicals in personal care products used in everyday lives become part of the wastewater stream. Wastewater treatment plants were not designed to remove these chemicals; therefore, these products and their metabolites persist in the effluent. Many of these chemicals are known, or suspected to be, endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) and can cause adverse impacts to aquatic organisms at trace concentrations. Here, we developed a publicly available EDC footprint calculator to estimate a household’s EDC footprint. The calculator prompts users to input the number of products they own in each of three categories: health and beauty, laundry, and cleaning. The calculator, which is programmed with average values of EDCs in each product, outputs an estimate of the user’s EDC footprint (mass) and ranks the contribution of each product to the footprint. When used by a group of 39 citizen scientists across the Susquehanna River Basin in the northeastern United States, the average household EDC footprint was ~150 g. Results of this tool aid in decision making by providing users with the information necessary to reduce the household’s footprint through product selection that avoids specific ingredients or by replacing the top-ranking products with greener alternatives. Full article

A potential solution in areas facing water shortages is greywater (GW) reuse. GW is produced in bathrooms, laundry rooms, and kitchens of households. With proper treatment, it can be an alternative source for the agriculture sector, which consumes approximately 70% of the world’s water. This paper represents the characterization of synthetic laundry GW fraction (LGW), its treatment and modelling of treated LGW reuse for irrigation using a seed germination test. LGW’s constant quality (pH = 8.0 ± 0.3, turbidity = 174 ± 73 NTU, BOD₅ = 300 ± 60 mgL⁻¹, TOC = 162 ± 40 mgL⁻¹) is suitable for testing the treatment method’s efficiency. Coagulation–flocculation, applying iron(III) chloride and sand filtration as a simple treatment combination, generates good-quality irrigation water (pH = 7.27 ± 0.23, turbidity = 0.6 ± 0.4 NTU, BOD₅ = 17 ± 8 mgL⁻¹, TOC = 16 ± 6 mgL⁻¹). Seed germination tests with different waters, and elemental analysis of water, roots, and stems of the plants were done to verify the plants’ quality. The sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) for the raw LGW (SAR = 4.06) was above the threshold (<3) for safe irrigation, thus it is not recommended for this purpose. Based on the elemental analysis results and SAR value of treated LGW (SAR = 2.84), it can potentially be used for irrigation purposes. Full article

In the Water, Energy and Waste Directive, the European Commission provides for the use of household washing programmes with lower temperatures (30–40 °C) and lower water consumption. However, low washing temperatures and the absence of oxidising agents in the liquid detergents, and their reduced content in powder detergents, allow biofilm formation in washing machines and the development of an unpleasant odour, while the washed laundry can become a carrier of pathogenic bacteria, posing a risk to human health. The aim of the study was to determine whether the addition of hydrogen peroxide (HP) to liquid detergents in low-temperature household washing allows disinfection of the laundry without affecting the properties of the washed textiles even after several consecutive washes. Fabrics of different colours and of different raw material compositions were repeatedly washed in a household washing machine using a liquid detergent with the addition of 3% stabilised HP solution in the main wash, prewash or rinse. The results of the antimicrobial activity, soil removal activity, colour change and tensile strength confirmed the excellent disinfection activity of the 3% HP, but only if added in the main wash. Its presence did not discolour nor affect the tensile strength of the laundry, thus maintaining its overall appearance. Full article

Wastewater treatment systems collect and treat sewage that includes microplastics (MPs). However, we are not aware of any studies on the occurrence and distribution of MPs in wastewater stabilization ponds (WSPs), which serve small communities worldwide. Here, we characterized MPs (~45 µm–5 mm) in an aerated WSP serving ~500 houses and an adjacent lake. Putative MPs were most abundant in duckweed (Lemna minor) and sludge (75 ± 22 and 12.8 ± 3.1 particles/g, respectively: ±1 standard deviation (SD), n = 6, dry weight). In the water, average concentrations (particles/L ± 1 SD, n = 6) were highest in the pond (4.1 ± 0.6), followed by effluent (3.9 ± 0.5) and the lake (2.6 ± 0.6). Over 20 types of MPs were identified in each different compartment, with the distribution varying somewhat between the water, sludge, and duckweed. Polyester and polyethylene were the predominant types, followed by polyethylene terephthalate, polyacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, and others. Morphologies consisted of fibers (62–71%), fragments (28–37%), and beads (1–6%). High-density polymers were more frequently found in sludge. Potential sources of the MPs include synthetic textiles from laundry and other plastics washed down household drains. Overall, with ~786,000 MPs/day released in the pond effluent and with duckweed a source of food for waterfowl, we demonstrate that WSPs can be point sources of MPs to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and thus deserve further scrutiny. Full article

A sharing economy is an alternative system that enables pro-environmental behavior by improving efficiency through product-sharing. However, some motivations and requirements for doing laundry can increase the environmental burden, which suggests that the laundry machine (LM) sharing is not necessarily sustainable. This study clarifies consumer motivations for laundry usage and assesses the feasibility of environmentally sustainable laundry behavior through LM-sharing. Consumer surveys were conducted in Tokyo and Bangkok with different LM-ownership proportions. Single-person households were targeted, reflecting Tokyo’s demographic situation. A scenario analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of routine laundry behavior changes on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Three main results emerged. First, Tokyo respondents used a coin-operated laundry machine (CL) for convenience, which private washers cannot provide, while Bangkok respondents used it for basic laundry needs. Consequentially, the Tokyo respondents, who used CLs, were responsible for more than three times the GHG emissions of Bangkok respondents. Second, the group using both private LM and CL was the least GHG-efficient group, regardless of region. Third, laundry behavior can reduce GHG emissions if consumer requirements are decreased. The results show that there is environmental significance in adopting LM-sharing for sustainable consumption and production systems that reflect regional characteristics. Full article