An eco-friendly couple spend just $10 a month on water bills, have ditched toilet paper and re-use their shower water.
Influencer Anna Masiello, 28, and her husband, Diogo, 29, a filmmaker, aim to lead a zero-waste lifestyle by swapping old clothes with friends, using shampoo and soap bars, and opting for a plant-based diet.
Also, Anna wears period pants and menstrual cups instead of using disposable period products.
The pair opted to stop using toilet paper in May 2022 – instead opting for a portable bidet which is attached to a plastic bottle and which they use in their own home and take with them on camping trips.
Anna and Diogo also save their shower water in a jar which they clean and reuse afterward to drink, cook and water plants with. The pair claim they spend 8.43 British pounds ($10) a month on water.
They’ve saved more than 3,400 gallons of water in a year by refraining from toilet tissue and more than 158 gallons of water by saving and re-using their shower water.
The pair still flush as normal, but save water because they claim the production of toilet paper is a water waster.
Anna Masiello, an environmentalist from Trieste, in northern Italy, said: “It wasn’t hard to ditch loo roll – you’d be surprised how easy it is to go without it.
“So many people were confused by the concept of the portable bidet.
“When I shared it on social media, someone even commented they would rather die than use one.
“There’s a bottle that you fill up with water – you attach a small shower-style head to and release water to wash yourself with.
“You simply wipe your privates with a towel after you are done.
” It’s perfectly clean and hygienic.”
The sustainability advocate explained the average person gets through 100 rolls of toilet paper per year, which use 3,700 gallons of water when it’s manufactured.
To re-use shower water, they place a two-gallon jar in the shower until it’s appropriately warmed, while they save excess water which they reuse for watering plants, drinking and cooking.
To make the water safe to consume, they put a charcoal water filter in the jar to clean the contents.
“It’s so simple and we save 600 liters a water by doing so,” explained Anna.
“When I started my zero-waste journey I felt the weight of the world of my shoulders as I was trying to do everything perfectly.
“I’ve soon come to realize you can’t do everything perfectly and it’s a completely personal journey you have to take.
“We just do what we can and what works for us.”
“I recommend people start with what is important to them, whether that’s food fashion and waste and then go from there.”
Anna started her own journey by looking at how much waste she was producing and trying to reduce it.
The couple only produce one black bin of waste every six months and save the synthetic fibers from their washing machine which they hope one day to use to stuff a pillow.
“I haven’t bought any clothes from fast fashion stores for five years,” Anna said.
“I absolutely love thrifting and going to swap events. I try to appreciate everything I have.”
Anna has her own sustainable fashion brand R-Coat which creates clothing items from old umbrellas.
Anna’s top tips to lead a more sustainable life:
1. Start small – don’t try and do everything at once. Pick something like food, fashion, waste or transportation and go from there.
2. You don’t have to be perfect – I eat a plant-free diet which being an Italian was so hard. Diogo and I don’t buy animal-based products, but I don’t beat myself up if I eat a plant-based product while I am out.
3. Swap your plastic toothbrush for a bamboo one, use toothpaste tabs and shampoo bars.
4. Make your Mondays meatless. Cutting meat from your diet on a Monday is a fun way to refresh your menu and cut your carbon footprint.
5. Buy a Guppyfriend – a washing bag that collects all the synthetic fibers from your washing, stopping them from going into the ocean.
Produced in association with SWNS.
