Overview
- Project leaders launched a three-year programme in Bannau Brycheiniog to establish up to 4,500 native trees using liquid fertiliser made from human urine, marked by the planting of a Scots pine seed.
- Funding totals £435,627 from the Forestry Commission through the Tree Production Innovation Fund, supporting the first real-world test of this product on trees.
- About 540 litres of fertiliser came from urine collected from roughly 700 Boomtown Festival attendees in 2025, with additional sources set to supply the trial.
- Bristol start-up NPK Recovery processes urine on-site in a mobile lab, using bacteria to recover nitrogen and other nutrients and create an odour-free liquid.
- NPK Recovery’s Lucy Bell-Reeves says earlier trials matched standard fertilisers, while this tree-focused test is being delivered with Stump up for Trees, a local charity that has planted more than 500,000 trees.