From toilets to the fields: the British learned to make superfertilizer from urine

It seems that the UK has found an elegant way to solve two problems at once: recycling and the need for environmentally friendly soil fertilization. Local startup NPK Recovery has offered to recycle urine collected in toilets at music festivals and sports events into a highly efficient liquid fertilizer.

The main feature of technology is mobility. A special compact unit is connected directly to the toilet tanks at the event venue. Instead of wasting fuel and time on removing the contents of tanks to remote treatment plants, waste is immediately sent to recycling.

Special bacteria transform nutrients into a form that plants easily absorb. Next, the liquid undergoes a multi-stage cleaning: filtration, heating for complete disinfection and removal of excess moisture. Each batch undergoes strict laboratory control. The output is a powerful concentrate rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (it is these elements that are encrypted in the acronym NPK).

The technology has already been successfully tested at major events, including the famous Boomtown Festival and the London Marathon. Experiments at the Royal Agricultural University have shown impressive results: wheat grown on such organic fertilizer developed as well as using traditional ammonium nitrate. While we are talking about test indicators, the potential for agriculture is huge.

The startup plans to go beyond the usual fields. The company's immediate goal is to use recycled organics to feed 4,500 trees in Wales. This will not only return valuable trace elements back to nature, but also significantly reduce the carbon footprint by eliminating long-distance transportation of waste.