Recycling wee into wheat is sustainability 1st for marathon
Urine from thousands of women running the TCS London Marathon was saved from sewage and turned into crop-growing fertiliser.
NPK Recovery is collaborating with PEEQUAL, a women’s event urinal company, which enable people to pee 2.7x faster compared to using portaloos! Together we collected and recycled urine into fertiliser, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the world’s most popular marathon.
One thousand litres of urine were collected from PEEQUAL urinals at the marathon’s yellow start line. This was processed into fertiliser for use in field trials, to continue R&D into the fertiliser formulation and evaluate its performance on fertiliser wheat crops. One thousand litres of urine can fertilise enough wheat to produce c.195 loaves of bread.
Together, PEEQUAL and NPK hope to one day recycle all urine from large-scale events. The opportunity is to transform the nutrient supply chain – if recycled, the urine from 2024’s 53,700 TCS London Marathon finishers could fertilise enough wheat to bake 3,142 loaves of bread, according to NPK Recovery.
Susan Farrell, who ran the London Marathon for the NSPCC, said: “It’s brilliant to think that the nervous wees of thousands of women are helping a good cause!
“I used PEEQUAL’s novel urinals at Glastonbury – their design means they don’t sacrifice privacy and it honestly felt like we were cheating by skipping the queues. I used to watch guys breeze through and think, ‘Why can’t we have that?!’ Now we do, and I really hope we get to see them at more events!”
Amber Probyn, co-founder of multi-award winning PEEQUAL, said: “We love being at TCS London Marathon because we firmly believe that women shouldn’t have to choose between starting their race on-time or waiting to go to the loo.
“We’re really proud that 1,000 litres of wee won’t go to sewage, and will instead be recycled into something amazing!”
NPK Recovery use bacteria to recover naturally occurring nutrients from the urine, creating a liquid fertiliser.
Hannah Vandenbergh, Founder of NPK Recovery, said: “Urine doesn’t have to be a waste product and we’re excited to be playing a small part in helping support the sustainability commitments of the iconic TCS London Marathon.
“Ultimately, we want to help event organisers all over recycle their urine and reduce their carbon footprints.”
Kate Chapman, Head of Sustainability at London Marathon Events said: “Part of our environmental strategy is to try and find an “onward use” for all waste that is generated at our events, for instance composting, reusing, upcycling and much more besides.
“We are delighted that the urine from the PEEQUAL urinals can be used for something so positive rather than going to waste.”
