How scientists will use urine collected from festivalgoers in national park project

Scientists will grow up to 4,500 trees in the national park using fertilizer obtained from urine collected from festival attendees.

Bristol-based start-up NPK Recovery produced the fertilizer using urine collected from a toilet block used by 700 revelers at the Boomtown Festival in Hampshire in July last year.

This urine was converted into 540 liters of compost product during the 2025 event and will now be used to grow native trees on the edge of Bannau Brycheiniog, also known as the Brecon Beacons in Wales.

Urine obtained from other sources will also be used in the three-year project supported by a grant from the Forestry Commission.

On Thursday morning, a Scots pine seed was planted on the site to celebrate the start of the initiative.

Lucy Bell-Reeves, co-founder of NPK Recovery, said trials had shown the fertilizers were as effective as commonly used alternatives.

This project will be tried on trees for the first time.

“Using waste product to grow trees is a circular solution that can revitalize our struggling native species,” he said.

“We need to stop flushing crop and tree growing nutrients down the toilet and start using them to improve our fertilizer security.

“After all, it doesn’t look like we’ll be running out of urine anytime soon.

“I like the idea that by the end of this three-year project, revelers will have created a new Welsh forest that could thrive for hundreds of years.”

In April last year, the company collected 1,000 liters of urine from women’s urinals at the TCS London Marathon, which was composted.

It uses bacteria to recover nitrogen and other naturally occurring nutrients from urine, creating a liquid, odorless fertilizer.

NPK Recovery has a mobile laboratory that it brings to events and converts urine into fertilizer at the source.

As part of the Wales project, the company has partnered with the charity Stump up for Trees, co-founded by author and cyclist Rob Penn.

In the last five years, the charity has planted more than 500,000 trees in the area; this reached half of the one million tree goal for landscape restoration.

“We are excited to take part in this groundbreaking project that has implications for the future of sustainable forestry,” he said.

“As a small charity, collaboration is essential and we are delighted to be working with NPK Recovery as they bring innovation to an industry area that needs it.”

The project received a Forestry Commission grant of £435,627, awarded through the Wood Production Innovation Fund.