Re-using people’s urine

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Cinderela: New toilet recovers all usable nutrients

Recycling waste flows is essential for a sustainable world. We take our glass bottles to the bottle bank, and recycle our plastic, but there is one waste stream that is not currently fully recycled: our urine. But a new experiment by Cinderela could change this.

Recycling waste can make it usable again. Urine contains nutrients that have a variety of uses, including to feed plants. Cinderela filters these nutrients from the urine, so they can be used again.

Collecting all usable substances

There are several projects ongoing that involve recycling urine, but Cinderela is the first experiment to extract all the nutrients present in urine. A new type of toilet collects the urine and separates the usable substances, so they can be turned into usable raw materials.

But the nutrients aren’t the only benefit of Cinderela. In similar projects, the residual water (what remains of the urine) is disposed of. But because Cinderela filters all the nutrients out of the urine, the residual water is fully upgraded to drinking water quality.

Facts

  • Recycling urine

  • The nutrients extracted are used to feed plantsFirst project in the world that extracts all usable materials from urine

  • Only 100% clean drinking water is left after nutrients are separated

Visitors to the Marineterrein can play their part in this project simply by using the Cinderela toilet from mid-February 2020. You can find the toilet on the quay at building 027.

The Cinderela experiment is part of a larger European project that focuses on recycling raw materials for the construction sector. Click here to find out more about this project.

This experiment is part of Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab.

Partners

These companies and organizations are involved in this experiment

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