42 Sanitation and Cleanliness for a Healthy Environment
To make simple urine fertilizer
Store urine for a few days in a closed container before use. This will kill any germs it
contains, and will also prevent nutrients from escaping into the air.
To make fertilizer, dilute the urine with water — mix 3 containers of water for every
1 of urine. (Undiluted, fresh urine is too strong and may damage plants.)
You can fertilize plants with diluted urine as often
as 3 times a week.
Plants fertilized with urine can grow as well
as plants grown with chemical fertilizers, and
need less water. Plants that make edible leaves,
like spinach, grow best. Always wash hands after
handling urine.
water water water urine
3 jugs of water plus 1 jug of urine
= safe fertilizer
To make fermented urine fertilizer
Adding compost to urine, and letting this mixture ferment (rot and turn sour), can
create new soil for planting.
1. Collect urine from dry toilets. For each liter of urine, add 1 tablespoon of rich
soil or compost.
2. Let the mix sit uncovered for 4 weeks. This will smell bad, so do it in a place
away from people. The urine mixture will ferment and turn brown.
3. Fill a large container with dry leaves or other dry plant matter. A large container
can be made by cutting one face off an old car tire and turning it inside out. Line
the container with thick plastic to prevent water leakage through the hole in the
bottom.
4. Add fermented urine. The best mix is 7 parts plant matter to 1 part urine (about
3 liters of urine for every 30 cubic centimeters of plant matter.)
5. Cover with a thin layer of soil – no more than 10 centimeters. Plant seeds or
seedlings.
6. Water every 2 days with a mix of 1 part urine to 10 parts water. (This is a
weaker mix than we suggest above, because it will be used in closed containers
rather than open gardens or fields.) The dry plant matter will turn to rich soil in
10 to 12 months.
The new soil can be used as compost or to top up another container.
Urban gardening with urine fertilizer