Paper and plastic are not the only things one can recycle in the commercial food service establishment. Water reuse in the commercial kitchen is an effective way to save money over time, while also doing a good deed for the environment. Sometimes reused water is known as reclaimed water or gray water. However, no complicated systems are necessary to reap the benefits of reusing water. With a few tips, you too can recycle your water.
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- Reuse compartment sink rinse water. After washing a round of pots, dishes or utensils in the compartment sink, save the final rinse water and use it for soaking or pre-rinsing the next round of dishes. This method could save about 18 gallons from being dumped prematurely.
- Steam-clean the floors. Water from steam tables and some types of other steaming equipment is stored in a reservoir to be dumped out later. Instead of dumping this clean water down the drain, use it for cleaning the countertops or floors at the end of the day or anytime the steam table water is changed.
- Reuse water for heat recovery. Consider a gray water heat recovery system for your commercial dishwasher. If the dishwasher is a continuous fill and drain model, a gray water system will recover some of the heated drain water and use this to reheat the incoming water supply. This saves water and energy, too.
- Recycle the dishwasher rinse water. You can also use the rinse water from the dishwasher as flush water for the commercial garbage disposer. Even better, do this along with installing a water saving device, which regulated water used for grinding and can reduce total water use by up to 70%.
- Install a pulper. Not only do they compact your garbage, they use recycled water to do so. Typical commercial pulpers only use two gallons per minute and reuse the water they need to compress your restaurant’s waste. This is six gallons less than a typical commercial garbage disposal uses.
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