Bristol company transforms pee into fertiliser
Lots of people go to festivals, which means lots of people pee at festivals...
- Published
It might be gross but did you know your pee has the potential to grow a forest?
A Bristol-based new company NPK Recovery is collecting urine from portable toilets during festivals and big events, transforming it into fertiliser to help grass grow back on the fields afterwards.
The team now also plans to use the fertiliser to grow thousands of native British trees for a new woodland in Monmouthshire, south Wales.
The team plans to grow thousands of native British trees such as beech and Scots pine
The team has collected bottles of pee from events including the London Marathon and Boom Town Festival.
But why pee? It's because it contains nitrogen, which helps plants to grow.
In trials, scientists stripped out all the impurities normal human pee has and developed a synthetic fertiliser - very surprisingly, it doesn't smell.
The company has partnered with Welsh charity, Stump up for Trees and its tree nursery, to use the fertiliser to help grow 4,500 native British trees .
This will include species such as Beech and Scots pine - to be planted in Bannau Brycheiniog national park, also known as the Brecon Beacons.
Lucy Bell-Reeves, NPK Recovery's co-founder, said: "I love the idea that by the end of this three-year project, revellers and runners will have created a fledgling Welsh forest, which could flourish for hundreds of years.
"We need to stop flushing crop and tree-growing nutrients down the loo, and start using them to increase our fertiliser security.
"After all, we're not about to run out of urine any time soon."
But before you get any ideas, weeing in your garden to help the plants grow isn't the best plan.
It contains some helpful chemicals - but also a lot of nasty things that would not encourage growth. Plus, your parents might have something to say about the smell.
