Urine was used as fertilizer in ancient Rome and China. Today, farmers in Vermont are reviving this practice to enhance their harvests and promote sustainable crop growth.
Betsy Williams believes in making sure her urine does not go to waste. For the past 12 years, she and her neighbors in rural Vermont have been collecting their urine and donating it to local farmers for use as fertilizer.
We consume many foods that contain nutrients, and a lot of those nutrients pass through us. By recycling that urine, we can help create food for ourselves and animals. To me, it just makes sense," says Williams.
Williams participates in the Urine Nutrient Reclamation Program (UNRP), which is operated by the Rich Earth Institute (REI), a non-profit organization based in Vermont. Together with 250 of her neighbors in Windham County, they donate a total of 12,000 gallons (approximately 45,400 liters) of urine to the program each year. This process is referred to as “peecycling.”
The urine collected from Windham County is picked up by a truck and transported to a large tank where it is pasteurized by heating it to 80°C (176°F) for 90 seconds. After pasteurization, it is stored in a tank, ready to be sprayed on local farmland at the appropriate time for fertilizing crops.