Lots of people are familiar with the term recycling. It’s when we reuse or repurpose items rather than throwing them away.
However, have you ever heard of the term pee-cycling?
Pee-cycling is when you use urine collected from people, and use it as a fertiliser for crops!
Now, pee-cycling may sound like a strange idea, but it’s actually something that’s been around for a while.
Scientists are now talking about this recycling due to the war in the Ukraine. The current war, and associated trade issues, has led to a shortage of chemical fertilisers.
Both Russia and Ukraine are some of world’s biggest producers in agriculture and food.
So without these valuable resources scientists are looking to other sources.
Importantly, your yellow liquid contain nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which are great for crops, but it’s also free from a substance called ammonia which many chemical fertilisers contain.
Each adult produces between 450 and 680 litres of urine a year. This amount of urine contains about 4kg of nitrogen and 400 grams of phosphorus, which is enough to grow wheat for making a loaf of bread every day of the year.
What do you think about pee being used to grow crops? Do you think it’s a good idea? Let us know in the comment below!
2 Responses
This is pretty cool, but VERY disgusting🤢
thats gross but its cool 😎