ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University asked rivalry tailgaters on Saturday to give urine at the Ann Arbor Golf Club, just across from Gates 2 and 4 at Michigan Stadium, for a campus recycling trial known as the Piss Off.
The collection window was listed from 1 p.m. until the final whistle after a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The public write-up of the event called for two yurts so fans could pick a station tied to each school, and it described waterless urinals that keep only urine in the sample.
The university effort, run through the Nutrient Energy Water Cycles Group and its NEWtrient Recovery Facility, pasteurizes what is collected and then makes a six-times concentrate with a freeze-thaw method created with Brightwater Tools, which licenses patented technology from the Ann Arbor campus. Staff isolate nutrients and turn phosphorus and potassium into solid struvite pellets, then mix custom blends for plant trials. Those blends receive state agriculture-department certification and are headed for field work at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum and at Michigan State’s Kellogg Biological Station.
Organizers called this their first try at a stadium-scale urine recycling project in the United States. People who were not attending the game could still drop off a donation in a second-floor restroom of the G.G. Brown Building. The stated aim is to recover nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that would otherwise be flushed away, instead of relying only on fertilizer that is mined or manufactured through energy-heavy steps.
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