University of Michigan civil and environmental engineering professor Krista Wigginton applies human urine derived fertilizer to beds of peonies at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor on Monday, May 9, 2022. The"pee-cycling" effort is part of University of Michigan research that promotes human urine-based fertilizer as beneficial to the plants and to the environment. ANN ARBOR, Mich. — — A pair of University of Michigan researchers are putting the “pee” in peony.
Love is co-author of a study published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal that found urine diversion and recycling led to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy. As part of a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation awarded in 2016, Love and Wigginton have not only been testing advanced urine-treatment methods, but also investigating people's attitudes about the use of urine-derived fertilizers.
“We have used the term, ‘pee on the peonies.’ And then it grabs people's attention and then we can talk to them about nutrient flows and nutrient efficiency in our communities and how to be more sustainable," Love said."It turns out some people thought that that was permission to drop their drawers and pee on the peonies.
A split-bowl toilet in a campus engineering building is designed to send solid waste to a treatment plant while routing urine to a holding tank downstairs. Urine diverted from the toilet and urinal were to be treated and eventually used to create fertilizers, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the school to shut down the collection efforts.