A new recycling project is getting attention at the University of Michigan. Researchers think their concept will grow, even though right now it’s not mainstream.
They’re calling pee-cycling…. toilets that will turn urine into fertilizer. The U of M research project also includes monitoring attitudes toward the technology of human waste.
Pee-cycling is not a drop in the bucket. It has a $3 million grant. It’s part of a larger program by The National Science Foundation to find ways to convert urine into safe fertilizer for crops. Special toilets in the G.G. Brown building on the U of M North campus are designed to separate urine and send it to a holding tank.
Human urine contains high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Urine is already used to derive chemicals for circulatory medicines.
Pee-cycling liquid is concentrated and distilled in filters, and microorganisms are purified and turned into a solid.
