日常生活中，不管是洗衣、烹飪、盥洗所產生的污水，都會經由污水管排放到污水處理廠。在經過過濾、沈澱、曝氣、消毒等程序，污水便成為能二次使用的再生水或是可回放到河川之中的放流水。
在這樣的污水處理程序中，污水獲得二次生命，但其過程卻也製造出其他的廢棄物，比如被攔截留下的污泥。污泥目前在台灣大多以掩埋方式處理，一部分焚燒，一部分則委外乾燥再利用，比如成為製磚原料等。
各國其實都有對於污泥資源化的討論，但在荷蘭，污水回收的議題更以不同方式被討論著。
荷蘭水委會一直在探索污水廠的未來可能性，不只是污泥，更是整個過程中任何能翻轉價值的所有可能，並邀請不同單位進行跨界合作。其中Nienke Hoogvliet設計師將污水處理過程中產生的藻酸鹽藻酸鹽(Alginate)、厭氧氨氧化菌和藍鐵礦(vivianite)轉化為印染日本和服的天然染料，讓這些廢棄副產物在這個代代相傳的珍貴物件上展開二次生命，藻酸鹽的特性也使紡織品更好地吸收染料，減少紡織印染產生的水耗。
In daily life, the sewage generated from washing, cooking, and toileting, will be discharged to the sewage treatment plant through the sewage pipe. After the treating process, including filtration, sedimentation, aeration, disinfection, etc., it becomes reclaimed water that can be used twice or is put back to the river.
In such a sewage treatment process, the wastewater gets a second life, but there are other wastes produced during the process, such as the sludge left behind. Most of the sludge is currently disposed to landfills in Taiwan, part of it is incinerated, and part of it is dried and reused, for example, as a raw material for making bricks.
In fact, lots of countries have discussed the recycling of sludge. While the Netherlands discuss the issue of sewage recycling in different ways, trying to understand and improve the water purification process. The Dutch Water Authorities has been exploring the future possibilities of sewage treatment plants, inviting people for cross-border cooperation.
In one of the project, the designer, Nienke Hoogvliet, discovered that Kaumera, a new material from wastewater, could make textile absorb dyes better, so less water is needed and less is polluted during the dyeing process. She designed a kimono and coloured with two natural dyes extracted from wastewater.
The waste now has second life on the Japanese kimono, that is a precious clothes that people pass by generation.
