Biotechnology for Urban Greening: The Zero Mile System for the reuse of dishwasher wastewater.

The increasing demand for tap water and the need for sustainable management of water resource require new solutions including the reuse of domestic greywater. The Zero Mile system proposes an innovative approach based on the integration of biotechnology in architectural design. The core of the system is a biofilter composed of an ad hoc engineered microbial consortium, capable of removing nitrogen and phosphorus from dishwasher wastewater. This makes reusable the wastewater, for irrigating edible plants in domestic and urban environments. The system design has been conceived for an efficient integration into living spaces, promoting the concept of circular architecture. In this review, the main results obtained from biological experiments and architectural studies were reported, discussing the potential of the system from a circular economy and environmental sustainability perspective.