Is Urine Fertilizer Safe? Understanding Pharmaceuticals, PFAS and More

About this event

Reclaiming human “waste” as a resource protects watersheds from nutrient pollution while giving farms a local, sustainable source of fertilizer. Communities across the Cape and Islands are actively exploring urine diversion as an affordable, practical strategy for reducing nutrient pollution, including a funded pilot project underway in Falmouth. But applying fertilizer made from diverted urine on farmland raises new questions: What happens to the residual medicines in our urine? What about pathogens, heavy metals, and PFAS? Rich Earth will share the latest research on the safety of urine fertilizer, and place it in the context of other common farm inputs including irrigation water, manure, and biosolids. This presentation will support informed decision-making for safe human waste management, clean water, and fertile farms. About the presenter: This Cape Cod Clean Water Week event is presented by Abe Noe-Hays: Abe Noe-Hays is the co-founder and research director of Rich Earth Institute, which operates the nation’s first community-scale urine recycling program, with the goal of developing knowledge and advancing policy to help other communities access the benefits of urine diversion. Abe has lived with and used alternative sanitation systems since 1976, and has been actively developing technologies that transform waste into valuable resources since 2000.