French theme park collects urine to be used as biostimulant

Forward-thinking family theme park Futuroscope, near Poitiers (Vienne) has teamed up with Gironde biotechnology company Toopi to collect park visitors’ urine, in order to transform it into a ‘biostimulant’ for agriculture.

According to Toopi Organics, their process “has been tested and patented and is an ecological solution that is less expensive than the chemical additives currently used in agriculture. This innovation is part of a circular, local and reproducible model”.

Alexandra Carpentier, CEO of Toopi, told francetvinfo: “Historically, we have always thought of using it [human urine] as a direct fertiliser. The problem is that it requires a lot of urine. One hectare requires 40,000 litres. Our innovative idea is to use urine as a culture medium for micro-organisms that are of interest to agriculture. This allows for the recreation of life in the soil. And so with our product, we reduce by half the amount of synthetic fertiliser needed. For the moment, it’s mainly for field crops, especially corn.”

Futuroscope is in the process of changing all of its urinals so that the liquid no longer goes down the drain, but instead into a recovery tank.

Four toilet blocks are equipped so far, with all of the park’s toilets set to be transformed by 2025.

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