Urine Nutrient Reclamation Program
This flagship initiative serves as the platform for our research, education, and community engagement.
Rich Earth operates the first and largest community-scale urine nutrient recycling program in the US. The program grew out of local support for the idea of ‘peecycling’ – community members who were collecting more urine than they could use, and one local farmer who was enthusiastic about using urine as a fertilizer. In 2012, the first year of the program, we collected 600 gallons of urine from 60 urine donors.
The program has since grown into a robust community, involving a wide range of stakeholders including local leaders, businesses, and educators. We now collect over 12,000 gallons of urine annually, from local urine donors, installations in homes and businesses, and our portable toilet service.
For more on the main steps of urine diversion (collection, treatment, transportation, and application) visit our “How it works” page. For a more detailed description of our community program, please read our “Guide to Starting a Community-Scale Urine Diversion Program.”
Cultivating New Peecycling Hubs
After over a decade of recycling urine in Southern Vermont, the Rich Earth team is now helping other communities start programs of their own. With an ever-growing network of partners, we are working to galvanize peecycling infrastructure in new geographic hubs, protecting more watersheds and reaching new farm partners.
- Want to see a peecycling program near you? Fill out our Peecycling Community Interest Survey.
- Interested in connecting with others about regulatory pathways for urine reuse? Join our US EcoSan Permitting Group & Listserv.
- Ready to start the planning process for your community? Contact for more information about our consultation services.
We’re particularly interested in exploring how we can support projects in one of these ‘early adopter’ contexts:
- Demonstration sites with leadership that is passionate about demonstrating urine recycling at their facility, strong community support and high public visibility (e.g. universities, festivals, or grassroots networks; sites with high volumes of source separated urine already being diverted such as waterless urinals at rest stops)
- Watersheds facing nutrient pollution (e.g. municipalities with mandates to reduce nutrient pollution from wastewater)
- Farms or gardens interested in experimenting with innovative methods for sustainable fertilizations (e.g. farms with foot traffic interested in hosting urine depots and processing on-site, home garden organizations interested in hosting Urine My Garden workshops)
- On-site sanitation and/or housing needs: (e.g. remote lodges where waste must regularly be hauled long distances; sites where wastewater is a limiting factor for housing development (e.g. septic leach field size limiting addition of an ADU; high sewer connection fees limiting new development)
Community members attend the opening of Rich Earth’s Urine Depot.
Co-founders Abe & Kim present the awards for our annual “Piss-Off” competition.
