USEFUL URINE: Human urine, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, can be used to fertilize plants, scientists say.
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The beets Surendra Pradhan and Helvi Heinonen-Tanski grew were perfectly lovely: round and hefty; with their skin a rich burgundy; their flavor sweet and faintly earthy, like the dirt from which they came. Unless someone told you, you'd never know the beets were fertilized with human urine.
Pradhan and Heinonen-Tanski, environmental scientists at the University of Kuopio in Finland, grew the beets as an experiment in sustainable fertilization. They nourished the root vegetables with a combination of urine and wood ash, which they found worked as well as traditional mineral fertilizer.
"It is totally possible to use human urine as a fertilizer instead of industrial fertilizer," says Heinonen-Tanski, whose research group has also used urine to cultivate cucumbers, cabbage and tomatoes. Recycling urine as fertilizer could not only make agriculture and wastewater treatment more sustainable in industrialized countries, the researchers say, but also bolster food production and improve sanitation in developing countries.
Urine is chock full of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, which are the nutrients plants need to thrive—and the main ingredients in common mineral fertilizers. There is, of course, a steady supply of this man-made plant food: an adult on a typical Western diet urinates about 500 liters a year, enough to fill three standard bathtubs. And despite the gross-out potential, urine is practically sterile when it leaves the body, Heinonen-Tanski pointed out. Unlike feces, which can carry bacteria like salmonella and E. coli, urine poses no health risks—astronauts on the International Space Station even drink the stuff—after it's purified.
The nutrients in urine are also in just the right form for plants to drink them up, says Håkan Jönsson, a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala who was not involved in the beet study but has researched urine recycling for over 15 years. Food gives us nutrients like nitrogen as parts of complex organic molecules, but our digestive system strips them down into the basic mineral form that plants need—so "we have done half of the job," Jönsson says.
A small but dedicated contingent of organic gardeners in the U.S. and Europe already fertilize with urine at home, and researchers in Scandinavia have run pilot projects to recycle locally collected urine on small farms. But urine recycling may never become a part of large-scale farming in industrialized countries, because implementing it would mean drastically remodeling sewage systems in order to collect and transport liquid waste.
It would also mean swapping regular flush toilets for separating toilets, where a divided bowl and independent set of pipes separate urine from everything else. This detail is a roadblock, Jönsson says, because many people don't want a toilet that looks strange. "Acceptance is a big problem for this kind of system," he adds.
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38 Comments
Add CommentI prefer urinals to sit down/ stand with seat up loos.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWouldn't have a hard time convincing me to put a urinal in my next home.
If a farmer wanted to put in a seperate pee-line into my house I'd gladly give him all my urine for free!!!!!
The main problem however, would be what if someone put something other than urine into a pee-drain- crops could be killed off by a malicious non-urinator.
did they study the impact on plants from users of various recreational pharmaceuticals?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI thought Urine contained a fair amount of salt. If it does wouldn't if eventually poison the ground?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"...an adult on a typical Western diet urinates about 500 liters a year, enough to fill three standard bathtubs."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSounds like a challenge to me!
first three posters...my thoughts also...Johnay...i must be above average;-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, wow! Tell that to the Japanese farmers kicked off their "super-productive" lands using Pearl Harbor as an excuse. The "smart arses" who took over soon found that they could not grow crops anywhere near as good, because they did not know about this "secret". I have been using urine (best when aged a bit) since 1958! I have a couple of five-liter containers in my shed right now. And my beans all have leaves the size of table-mats!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, wow! Tell that to the Japanese farmers kicked off their "super-productive" lands using Pearl Harbor as an excuse. The "smart arses" who took over soon found that they could not grow crops anywhere near as good, because they did not know about this "secret". I have been using urine (best when aged a bit) since 1958! I have a couple of five-liter containers in my shed right now. And my beans all have leaves the size of table-mats!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMEN! Do your part! Urinate in a gallon milk jug, mix with wood ash, grow those vegetables for the kids! Think of the children!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf I catch you over here, taking the job away from my dog; pissing on my tomatoes, you're going to get some buck-shot in your ass.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, but your chihuahua is taking away Amurrikkkan jobs!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder how much public money was spent on this study to find something out that has been common knowledge among farmers in Europe for eons!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSpiff
SA, well, congrats! Now you've done it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe garden was my wife's. Now she tells me to "go piss on it."
Thanks!
Say you go to a store, or have someone come home. You get a large bottle, fill it, and return it for a new ampty bottle. Just think of all the jobs& (If someone uses this idea, I want 15%.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhere's the farm?! Haven't been to Finland yet, you fly, I'll buy. Also open to Canada, Norway, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Chile, Angola, India, ...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWait, I forgot Hawaii,... never mind, a mear human is bested by volcanic ash again.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI got the urine, but here in the wood fire pollution sensitive East Bay, no wood ash. What to do?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is totally possible to use human urine as a fertilizer . Is this news?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne would have thought that using human urine as a fertilizer has been in practice in Asia by farmers for centuries and proven to be effective.
(btt1943)
During the hardest days of Mao Ze Dong's cultural revolution, somebody had the idea of using human excrements to fertilize fields. What's the problem with this?- Human urine and feces do carry human-adapted bacteria, viruses and other bugs, using it as fertilizers is extremely dangerous, as some viruses require long time high intensity UV radiation to be destroyed. The answer is simple: never
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood point - instead of separating out our urine, we could train a fleet of dogs to fertilize farms
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, no shit. (ha ha)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHonestly, I'm not exactly sure why this is news. Any dog owner could tell you the effect of urine on their lawn.
A friend suggested that I pee in the garden to fertilize the flora (Grass- the legal kind) I preferred a single spot for fertilizing which actually burnt a hole in the lawn. It took a couple of months for the spot to recover. Should I have diluted my passing of water with water?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi Mara - excellent story! Fun to read your well-researched piece. Informative and inspiring, although I don't think I'll be quite ready to adopt the urine-fertilizer practices in my own cutting garden yet. We have to get over the "gross-out" factor, as you so aptly put it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think you should submit this article to the Garden Writers Association media awards next year. I'll send your dad the info - Debra Prinzing (former PSBJ staff writer)
Was that research so necessary? For many years people like me have been promoting urine diversion toilets around the world. The people who use them know that they work, that the urine (usually diluted) is a good fertilizer and that for composting or pit latrines removing the urine reduces the odour problems because the faeces and soil are dry.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWould the use of pharmaceuticals make the urine unusable?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm seeing a lot of self bioaccumulation in the future here especially with birth control hormones, unless they find a cheap way of filtering all that out
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is not exactly news - it was been used for millions of years!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPharmaceuticals, bacteria etc pose a threat in any waste water. Taking the piss this way on a scientific, industrial scale would be quite feasible.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGiven the way people accept t0xic materials on a huge scale today (oil, coal, nuclear, chemicals and pharmaceuticals), it's quite ludicrous to make a fuss about the "gross-out factor". An overall perspective, reason, and planning on a social (rather than merely profit-oriented corporate) scale is all that's needed.
So given our present-day social system - fat chance!
But what we can do is create demonstration facilities as proof of concept.
THAT is precisely is what is happening in research. Over the years the number of REPEATED studies I've found is terrible. I just wonder whether the person was actually TRYING and actually THOUGHT it was a 'novel' research mission. I think some of it is just so they can get 'published' and therefore hope for a better funding opportunity. I believe that is what is happening in the underdeveloped countries right now. Their 'scientists' are repeating studies to keep their jobs whereas the money would be better spent by using simple data-miners and spend the money on food and agriculture. Imho.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe importance of this development is the sustainable re-use of phosphorus and potassium. While nitrogen fertilizers can be manufactured with a sustainable energy source, peak phosphorus will occur in the life time of babies born this year. Without phosphorus, plant life cannot exist. While we mine phosphorus to fertilize plants, grow and eat them and then pee the phosphorus into the sea via our waste water treatment systems we will never have a sustainable food supply in the world. It will make global warming and peak oil look like kiddies play.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe importance of this development is the sustainable re-use of phosphorus and potassium. While nitrogen fertilizers can be manufactured with a sustainable energy source, peak phosphorus will occur in the life time of babies born this year. Without phosphorus, plant life cannot exist. While we mine phosphorus to fertilize plants, grow and eat them and then pee the phosphorus into the sea via our waste water treatment systems we will never have a sustainable food supply in the world. It will make global warming and peak oil look like kiddies play.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have realized that we need to complete the circle. I excreted on the ground for 30+ years. Now living in town I do my business in clear water that I pay for and then I pay to have it "purified".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe first thing I do in the morning is foul perfectly clear water that costs me money. Then I have to pay to have the water cleaned up. What is wrong with this picture?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis report seems like the elucidation of the obvious. Surprisingly, no mention of urea, the major nitrogen- containing component of urine. Urea is an excellent source of nitrogen for plants. Agronomists use it often in experiments, and there is use of it as a fertilizer on a commercial scale. And most of the salts in urine are harmless to human health if not in excessive concentrations causing unwanted osmotic effects on plant roots.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo the people complaining this isn't news: Yes, this may be something commonly known. But guess what? "Common knowledge" can be wrong. That's why we need to study stuff like this, even though it may seem moronic because it's self-evident. You just don't know until you perform an experiment. Plus, now that it's been published about, future scientists can build on the findings of this study to create and inform their own.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe urea in urine is a good nitrogen addition to compost piles, lawn, and yes, flower and vegetable gardens. Add it in a different place each time, to avoid nitrogen burn. Also, nitrogen in plants promotes leaves over other plant components--adding too much nitrogen over time to a plant can delay flowering.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOld-timers were often too far from a toilet at night and kept a chamberpot under their bed. You can make your own chamberpot-with a handle-from an empty large detergent container. Using a chamberpot also saves on your water bill. You may even want to add urine as an extra deer deterrent, along with everything else we try to use. I hope this information is useful to someone and further adds to the discussion. People interested in putting urine to good use will have something in common with mMlinda and Bill Gates (The diversion of urine for direct use as a fertilizer).
I have no access to wood ash. I do have the ashes of two relatives. Would human ashes be an acceptable substitute for wood ash?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read/heard something a few days ago saying some plants were missing calcium -
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'd expect my urine to have pretty balanced chemical output usable for plants. I of course dilute it with water. A worry is nitrogen burn.
...questioning the suitability of my urine to provide sufficient -and not excess - material for the flowers and bushes in my garden.
Chinese do use urine & faeces as a universal fertilizer for all vegetables. If you have been travel in China, you of course was eating them. In China, faeces and urine of human origin & animal origin are also directly used to feed fish. also in China, it is recommended never to eat non cooked vegetables, and only eat fish that you saw alive. A hepatitis vaccine is needed before you enter China, as it's the main desease. I wondered how fruits and vegetables could be contaminated by humane feaces ? They forgot to tell that. in gardens, sometimes you see woman with buckets, dispensing at each plant a ration of a soup made of urine and feaces.
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