Sink Better

Let's be honest, we don't think much about what goes down the sink. Except when it's blocked. We assume it's all treated somewhere. Yeah nah.

When we (the team at All Good Collective) met Andrew Crimston, founder of Washbox, about a year ago, we had that "oh f**k" moment. Andrew, with decades in the paint and construction world, told us the truth: most of the washwater from tools, paint, and grout — full of PFAS "forever chemicals", microplastics, and fine solids — flows through treatment plants unequipped to stop them, straight into rivers and oceans.

That's when the idea for the Green Sink Initiative (and the rallying cry "Sink Better") was born. Launched during Climate Week NYC, it's a global campaign designed to make an invisible problem impossible to ignore.

From Sink to Sea

The Green Sink Initiative makes one simple connection: what you rinse away doesn't disappear; it flows straight into the fishes' living (and dining) room. The campaign's first audience is tradies, builders, painters, and maintenance crews, but the message reaches everyone, including the DIY weekenders who just want to finish their home reno without wrecking the environment.

Four Pillars of Action

• Awareness | Revealing the dirty truth behind clean tools through creative storytelling and a few uncomfortable truths.
• Education | Partnering with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) to train over 60,000 professionals in 100 countries.
• Solutions | Washbox's closed-loop "Green Sink" wash stations recycle water, capture solids, and save millions of litres of polluted washwater.
• Compliance & Collaboration | Working with construction industry partners, universities, and policymakers to clean up the sector and prevent liquid waste mismanagement.

Making the Connection

"Pollution from washwater doesn't just vanish — it flows to the ocean," says Andrew Crimston, Washbox Founder. "With the Green Sink Initiative, we're helping everyone — from contractors to DIYers — understand the connection and 'sink better.' Because when a better way exists, people change."

Washbox is also developing smaller, easy-to-use systems for DIYers and renovators, so everyone can enjoy their projects without flushing the ocean.

Global Commitments

At Climate Week, Washbox announced its Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to:
• Eliminate 50 million litres of construction washwater pollution in five years.
• Train 100,000 professionals in sustainable liquid-waste practices.

Recognised as part of the United Nations Ocean Decade, the initiative is supported by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Western Sydney University, and Deakin University.