Ecodesign Futures. A Wastewater Recycling System for Zero-Mile Vegetable Production

The integration of edible vegetable production in the household environment, combined with the use of kitchen wastewater for irrigation purposes, is a promising strategy to achieve quality food products, reduce water consumption and the amount of wastewater, improve environmental awareness and cut transportation costs. Domestic wastewater is often rich in nutrients. Thus, employing "urban agriculture" practices could enable the upcycling of nutrients treated through bio-filtration, taking advantage of autotrophic -heterotrophic consortia. The paper shows the main results of an interdisciplinary research project that aims to reuse dishwater wastewater to grow vegetables and/or ornamental plants for domestic use by an engineered biological filter integrated into a prototype developed in the definition of EcoDesign future application scenarios. In this way, reducing water and fertiliser consumption is possible while producing healthy and safe food on a zero-mile basis, in line with the Agenda 2030 targets of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 6 (Zero Hunger and Clean Water and Sanitation).