The Inventor

Don Sorensen - Managing Director

The idea of a wastewater recycling system for household use first came to me in August 1994 when the great Auckland water shortage was on. At that time I was attending a conference at the Auckland University and staying at a Hotel. There were signs everywhere asking people to conserve water and even the taxi drivers were not allowed to wash their cars and could be fined if caught with a clean cab.

One evening after showering, I went to the toilet and thought why could not the water I just showered with be used to flush the toilet, I know now that the idea was not new and that others have had the same idea but as yet, there were no commercial systems available to householders in New Zealand.

After years and many thousands of dollars later we have a system that uses the water from the shower, bath and washing machine to flush toilets, and as a secondary use for watering the garden.

Our research showed that approximately 30% of all household water is used to flush the conventional toilet. This can be reduced with some new toilet cisterns.

The ECO system was designed primarily to conserve water and not until later was it realised that wastewater was such a large environmental concern and that maybe we had an answer to many septic tank flooding problems.

The ECOplus allows us to use all our modern appliances without wasting water.

Winner of the 1998 New Zealand Inventors Award
- Royal Easter Show, Auckland New Zealand.

• New Zealand Patent No 286169
• Australian Patent No 708129