Events
Join Rich Earth at one of our upcoming events – details below!
Rhode Island Land & Water Conservation Summit
Saturday, March 21, 2026
We’ll be exhibiting at this conference alongside worm bin and compost toilet extraordinaire Ben Goldberg. Come say hi if you’re in the area! We’re excited to explore how nutrient cycling might help RI watersheds & farms.
Vermont Organics Recycling Summit Tour
Thursday, March 26, 2:30 – 4:00 pm
As part of this annual Vermont conference celebrating Compost (“Feed the Soil that Feeds Us”!) we’ll be hosting a tour of our research center and presenting about our latest research project, a 3-year study investigating soil health impacts and farmer perspectives on novel soil amendments—including human urine, biochar from biosolids, biochar from other biomass, and compost—and discuss new equipment for on-farm urine fertilization.
Kick-off: Planning Peecycling for Franklin County, MA
Wednesday, April 8, 6:00 -7:00 PM
Sunderland Public Library, 20 School St, Sunderland, MA 01375
Thanks to a grant from the Long Island Sound Future’s Fund–and the care enthusiasm of our many Western Mass partners–we’re kicking off a 2-year planning grant to help grow urine recycling networks in Franklin County, MA! Join us for this kick-off event to hear the project goals, share ideas, and learn how you can get involved.
New York State Organics Summit
April 14 – 16, 2026
We’ll be presenting at this conference on our research into urine fertilizer, biochar, biosolids biochar and soil health.
Rich Earth Institute & Brightwater Tools Open House
Thursday, April 30, 4:30 – 6:30 PM
355 Old Ferry Road, Brattleboro, VT 05301
RSVP Here
The disastrous war on Iran is leading to global fertilizer shortages and skyrocketing prices, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and putting food systems at risk. It’s a vital reminder of the urgency to re-localize our nutrient sources so farmers can continue to grow the crops that feed our communities.
Join the Rich Earth Institute and Brightwater Tools for an Open House to learn how these two local organizations are working in tandem to harness an abundant source of nutrients in ‘waste.’ By completing food nutrient cycles locally—through practices such as urine diversion, blackwater systems, composting, and food waste digestion—we can build food security, healthy watersheds, and more resilient communities.
Join us to:
- Tour the U.S.’s first community-scale urine recycling facility
- Meet our operations and research teams and learn how the system works in practice
- See real-world infrastructure, including urine-diverting toilets and urinals, collection trucks, and pumping equipment
- Explore Brightwater Tools processing technologies—including the pasteurizer and freeze concentrator—and learn about pilot projects in Europe
- Discover how urine can be transformed into a high-quality fertilizer that replaces imported synthetic fertilizers
- Hear the latest research on the safety of urine-derived fertilizer, including findings on pharmaceuticals and PFAS
Wareham Presentation Series
We’ll be giving a series of talks exploring the potential of urine recycling for helping address Wareham’s nutrient pollution challenges, co-sponsored by Nutrients Out of Wareham Wastewater and Wareham Land Trust. All presentations are hosted at the Wareham Free Public Library.
- Pee the Change: Protecting Watersheds Through Urine Diversion Around the World & in Massachusetts – Tuesday, April 14, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
- Is It Safe? Understanding Urine Diversion, Pharmaceuticals & PFAS – Wednesday, April 29, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
- Urine My Garden! Replacing Synthetic Fertilizers at the Home Scale & Beyond – Tuesday, June 9, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Urine My Garden: Why & How to Peecycle at Home
Wednesdays April 29 & June 10 12:00 – 1:00pm ET via Zoom
Join the Rich Earth Institute for this introductory webinar on the paradigm-shifting practice of peecycling (as featured in the New York Times and CBS). Learn why and how to fertilize your garden with urine, turning what is often considered “waste” into a valuable resource. Discover how this simple, safe practice can provide an abundance of free fertilizer, prevent downstream pollution, and conserve clean water.
This webinar will cover:
- Step-by-step instructions for fertilizing with urine in home gardens
- An overview of community-scale urine recycling
- Insights from Rich Earth’s agricultural and social research
- The safety of urine fertilizer, including pharmaceutical considerations
- Spotlights on the peecycling movement from around the world
Be part of the peecycling movement, working towards a vision of regional nutrient sovereignty and climate-resilient sanitation. Together, we can pee the change we need!
Rich Earth Summit
Nov 2026 dates TBA
The Rich Earth Institute’s annual Summit is a global gathering for advancing the field of urine nutrient reclamation. The Summit brings together researchers, practitioners, policy makers, industry leaders, and students, catalyzing new collaborations and partnerships as we continue to grow the body of knowledge about this innovative practice.
Interested in hosting a collaborative event? Check out our list of Educational Offerings and contact for details.
