We know. We've been there—you're at a music festival and you have to pee. It's annoying, it's time-consuming, and it can often feel like a near-death experience. Nothing makes us cringe more than seeing a long time for the porta-potty. But one music festival may have just saved the relieving-yourself-in-the-outdoors experience from being totally awful—they plan to collect festivalgoers' urine and use it as fertilizer to grow more beer barley.
The Guardian reports that northern Europe's largest music festival, Roskilde, is launching its "from piss to pilsner" initiative in Zealand, Denmark. "It's about changing our approach to waste, from being a burden to being a valuable resource," said Leif Nielson from Roskilde's partner, the Danish Agriculture and Food Council.
The festival reportedly hopes to collect 25,000 liters of urine.
"The huge amount of urine produced at festival was having a negative impact on the environment and the sewage system," said Nielsen. "But beercycling will turn the urine into a resource."
The idea of "beercycling" could improve conditions in other music festivals too—like Burning Man, where one volunteer has been trying to figure out what to do with the garbage from porta-potties for 14 years.
Festivalgoers seem pretty stoked about the idea.
"I think it's a really cool idea," said one guy. "You drink, then you piss—simple!"
That dude is ready. The Danish music festival will pilot its ecofriendly program this week.
[via the Guardian]
