Bristol startup makes a splash with urine-derived plant fertiliser

A Bristol-based startup is transforming human urine collected from events into sustainable plant fertiliser.

NPK Recovery, based at the University of the West of England (UWE), is pioneering a process that converts waste urine into ammonium nitrate—a key nutrient for plant growth. The company’s approach uses bacteria to break down the urine, mimicking wastewater treatment but with a scalable and efficient focus on producing fertiliser.

The experimental fertiliser has already been tested on mustard plants at UWE and wheat crops at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester. If successful, NPK plans to expand to commercial trials in the coming year.

The process is currently powered by urine collected at high-profile Bristol events like Massive Attack’s concert on the Downs and Bristol Pride, in partnership with Peequal, a women’s urinal company. Typically, such waste is transported hundreds of miles for processing, but NPK Recovery’s solution offers a local and sustainable alternative.

Lucy Bell-Reeves from NPK Recovery, said the technology makes use of "an infinite resource".

"Instead of driving this waste urine from portable toilets around the country, it can be transformed here and turned into something useful," Ms Bell-Reeves added.