Blog

On-Farm Research Webinar

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on February 23rd, 2024. Categories: Events, Research.

Fertilizing with Urine: Recent Findings from the Rich Earth Institute’s On-Farm Research  When: Monday, March 18, 11 am – 12 pm ET Register: Free via Zoom Join the Rich Earth […]

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Take Action Today for Compost Toilets in Vermont!

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on January 31st, 2024. Categories: Policy, Regulation, Vermont.

Take action today to unlock compost toilets and greywater systems as a climate resilient alternative to septic systems in Vermont. Vermont’s current rules require composting toilet owners to take their […]

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Award-winning NOWRA poster on Nitrogen Removal

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on October 30th, 2023. Categories: Conferences, Latest News, Research, Technology.

Arthur Davis (our Operations Director) and Ryan Homeyer (our Research Associate) presented a poster at the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA) national conference, representing our spin-off company Brightwater Tools. The […]

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Urine Diversion: A Tool in the Toolbox for Cape Cod

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on October 19th, 2023. Categories: Cape Cod, Conferences, Latest News.

IN THE NEWS Cape Cod Faces a Rising ‘Yellow Tide’ Scientific American, February 12, 2024 Cape Cod’s ‘power couple of pee-cycling’ wants you to save that liquid gold WBUR, February 12, 2024 […]

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Abe Presents Keynote at Australia Conference on Urine Recovery

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on September 29th, 2023. Categories: Conferences.

Our Research and Co-Director Abe Noe-Hays traveled to Australia to be the keynote speaker at the Circular Economy For Climate and Environment Conference, held over two days in Sydney. The […]

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Rich Earth Summit: Nov 7-9, 2023

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on September 21st, 2023. Categories: Annual Summit.

We hope you will join us for the 2023 Rich Earth Summit either virtually or in-person in Brattleboro, VT. The Summit will include themed presentations, virtual tours and exhibitions, a […]

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Webinar: Reducing On-Farm Ammonia Loss From Manure through Fermentation Using Whey & Paper Fibers

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on August 22nd, 2023. Categories: Research.

Thursday, September 7th 9 – 10 am Ammonia volatilization from manure is a major source of nitrogen pollution in the environment, and also reduces the fertilizer value of manure on […]

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Peecycling in the Valley: Community Conversations for Franklin County, MA

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on August 5th, 2023. Categories: Events.

Yellowbud Farm applies urine fertilizer provided by the Rich Earth Institute to its tree nursery field in Northfield. After over a decade of recycling urine in Windham County, VT, Rich […]

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We’re Hiring!

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on July 31st, 2023. Categories: Uncategorized.

Rich Earth Operations Technician Put the ‘pee’ in Opeereations Technician, and join the Rich Earth team! We are seeking an Operations Technician to support and report to our Operations Director. You […]

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Urine and Wool in the Rich Earth Demonstration Garden

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on July 20th, 2023. Categories: Gardening.

What happens when you saturate sheep wool with urine and feed it to your soil? The plants in Rich Earth’s demonstration garden say the extra nutrients are pretty tasty! We […]

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Urine Fertilizer at Yellowbud Farm

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on July 15th, 2023. Categories: Research, Uncategorized.

At Yellowbud Farm, farmer Eric Cornell explains that he sees fertilizing with urine as one part of the “symbiosis and the co-evolution of humans and plants.” Through fertilizing with urine, humans […]

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Green Center Advocates for Peecycling in Cape Cod

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on July 9th, 2023. Categories: Cape Cod.

Rich Earth hosted the Green Center for a tour of our urine recycling program in VT. From left to right: Kim Nace, Earle Barnhart, Hilda Maingay, and Arthur Davis. As […]

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Community Connection at the Rich Earth Jubilee

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on July 2nd, 2023. Categories: Events.

On July 1, we hosted a community gathering to celebrate local food and the cycles that sustain our lives. At the Jubilee, we connected the many folks in our community […]

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Rich Earth Jubilee: A Celebration of Local Food Cycles

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on June 20th, 2023. Categories: Events.

Saturday July 1 from 3 – 6 pm at the Brattleboro Commons (rain location: Vermont Jazz Center) Together we can enrich the earth! Join Rich Earth for this family friendly […]

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Watershed-Friendly Gardening

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on June 15th, 2023. Categories: Uncategorized.

At Shelburne Farms, Julia Cavicchi presented our “Urine My Garden” workshop. Our partners at Wasted* also introduced their resource-recovery portable toilet service in the greater Burlington area. Image credit: Wasted* […]

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Nine Urine Pasteurizers Sold

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on June 8th, 2023. Categories: Development, Technology.

Brightwater Tools, Rich Earth’s spin-off company focussed on developing building-scale wastewater nutrient recovery systems, has sold nine of their pasteurizers (patent pending) to partners across the US. It is the […]

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Save the date! Rich Earth Summit: Nov 7 – 9, 2023

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on May 25th, 2023. Categories: Annual Summit.

After a year rich with the growth of new projects, research, and interest from around the world, let’s get ready to gather again at the Rich Earth Summit. Join us […]

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New SARE Research Project Exploring Biochar from Biosolids

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on March 10th, 2023. Categories: Research.

Biochar from Biosolids and Source Separated Human Urine: Soil Health Impacts and Farmer Perspectives We are exploring combining source separated human urine with biosolids-derived biochar and biomass biochar.  We will be investigating […]

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Seated Pee Toilet

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on February 16th, 2023. Categories: Uncategorized.

Rich Earth is excited to become a distributor for a sit-down peecycling toilet that we co-designed with Toilets for People, a local compost toilet business. These pee-only toilets offer an […]

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Peecycling Urinal at Hermit Thrush Brewery

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on January 16th, 2023. Categories: Latest News.

Next time ur-ine Brattleboro, take a leak at the Hermit Thrush brewery! Grab yourself one of their delicious sour beers and once you’ve got to “go”, check out the bathroom […]

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Teaching Future Peecyclers

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on November 16th, 2022. Categories: Education.

This fall, we’ve been talking with youth about how peecycling is an important part of the sustainable future we need. We’ve visited local classrooms, hosted school groups for tours of […]

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Urine Recycling Now Open in Rockingham

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on October 25th, 2022. Categories: Development.

Calling all Bellows-Falls area pee-ers! We have launched a new urine depot (recently featured in the Brattleboro Commons) at the Rockingham Recycling Center. Area residents can now drop off both […]

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Open House and Global Urine Research Summit

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on October 17th, 2022. Categories: Annual Summit.

Community members are invited to experience the future of ecological sanitation firsthand at an open house, as part of the Rich Earth Institute’s three day Global Summit.  The open house […]

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Resource-Recovering Portable Toilets

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on September 30th, 2022. Categories: Uncategorized.

A huge thank you to everyone who used our portable toilets this year! We had our urine-diverting sawdust compost toilets at sites across the Brattleboro area, including the Brattleboro Farmers […]

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Rockingham Depot Grand Opening

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on September 7th, 2022. Categories: Events.

We are hosting the Grand Opening of a urine recycling depot at the Rockingham Recycling Center on Saturday, September 24 from 10 am – 1 pm. We will have a […]

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Brightwater Tools Spin-Off Seeks Software Developer

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on August 31st, 2022. Categories: Uncategorized.

Position Title: Software Developer Term: 10-12 hours/week, Part-Time Summary: A spin-off of the Rich Earth Institute, BrightWater Tools is developing novel, building-scale wastewater nutrient recovery systems. The focus of this position […]

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Anthro-vermi-ponics

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on August 20th, 2022. Categories: Gardening.

We’re partnering with Dark Nectar Cooperative, a California-based worker-owned organization, to trial a vermiponics system with urine fertilizer at our Research Center. This system combines the principles of hydroponics and […]

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Subsidies for a Urine Diverting Toilets in Vermont

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on August 16th, 2022. Categories: Uncategorized.

We are excited to be able to offer subsidized installations for local residents, thanks to funding from the Thompson Trust. We can provide free site visits for anyone (regardless of […]

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Rich Earth Spinoff, Brightwater Tools, receives $1M NSF Funding   

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on August 4th, 2022. Categories: Uncategorized.

Brightwater Tools, which started in 2019 as a spin-off company of the non-profit Rich Earth Institute, has received a one-million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation’s Phase II Small Business […]

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Urine Fertilizer Collectors on Etsy

Written by Julia Cavicchi. Posted on July 25th, 2022. Categories: Uncategorized.

A unique holiday gift for that person on your list who pees (and wants to celebrate it!): Rich Earth’s ‘cubie and funnel’ urine collectors are now available for purchase on Etsy. Or […]

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