PEE-CYCLINGA PROJECT BY CHRIS MONDON AND JONATHAN

VALENTINE

PURPOSE

• This idea was based off a project by the Rich Earth Institute in Battleboro, Vermont

• dedicated to advancing and promoting the use of human waste as a resource

• Designed a similar project to see if human urine is an effective fertilizer for plants

CONCEPT

• Nitrogen Cycle

• Animals receive nitrogen from plants

• Waste left from animal contains nitrogen

• Bacteria in the soil “fix” nitrogen in the soil to be used by the plants

METHODS

• We consulted with Jack Kubicki, who had some knowledge in pee-cycling, and helped us design the experiment

• We collected 8 cups of human urine from our fellow fraternity brothers

• We let the urine boil for 20 minutes

• Diluted the urine with water to a 10:1 ratio until we obtained a PH level of 5-6

METHODS

• We chose two patches of grass outside of our house

• The grass was measured before we added anything

• ~2.74 inches

• Randomly measured four different spots and took the average length

• Patch #1 we watered only

• Patch #2 we applied urine/fertilizer mix

• We did this twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening for 10 days

• Re-measured at the end of the 10 days

RESULTS

• After measuring the grass

• Patch #1: ~3.23 inches (grew ~.5 inches)

• Patch #2: ~3.65 inches (grew ~.9 inches)

• We found that Patch #2 was a taller at the end

• Also, we noticed that Patch #2 was slightly a darker green

• This experiment has much potential, however we had a difficult time being able to effectively run the experiment due to the unpredictable Ohio weather

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Pee-cycling has potential to become a way to re-use our human waste

• We feel that a larger-scale experiment with more time would have shown more conclusive results than we achieved

• We could not find accurate information how much or how frequently to treat it, and wonder if that could of led to different results.