Recycling Scheme Of The Week

There’s gold in your urine, or at least a bit of cash. I had not realised but there is money to be made from the urine that you carry around in your bladder. The price has risen from $1 per 25 litres to around $6. As we produce around 473 litres a year, that’s about $113 worth, not enough to transform your living style but every little thing helps.

Rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, human urine is a good alternative for the manufacture of agricultural fertiliser, especially as industrially produced fertiliser is rising in cost and short supply. Our annual urine production is enough to frow 320lbs of wheat, according to the Rich Earth Institute of Vermont.

The lucky residents of Vermont are able to engage in what is known as pee-cycling, by donating their urine by the jug full at a collection depot in Brattleboro and are even provided with free funnels. It’s an idea that might just catch on. In Paris 600 apartments are being built complete with urine-diverting carseys which will then be used to fertilise the city’s green spaces.

We are a long way from it being universally adopted, but if any farmer wants me to make a contribution, I’m in. Heaven knows, at my age I produce enough of it.