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Danish farmers brew beer from recycled festival guest urine

A beer brewed using urine collected from festival guests? It might sound like toilet humour, but that is exactly what Danish farmers have done.

Danish farmers brew beer from recycled festival guest urine
Photo: Landbrug & Fødevarer

There is, of course, no actual urine in the beer. The waste product is used as fertiliser in the brewing of the pilsner – in itself, a not-uncommon part of manufacturing processes.

But the new Danish beverage collects its fertiliser from humans at Roskilde Festival – the largest music festival in Northern Europe – and not from cows or pigs.

In 2015, the Danish Agriculture and Food Council (Landbrug & Fødevarer) collected 54,000 litres of urine from festival attendees at the Roskilde Festival. During spring 2016, the urine was used as fertiliser, yielding 11 tons of malting barley.

Now, the project – dubbed 'beercycling' – has almost come full circle with the completed production of the brew.

Beercycling English from Landbrug & Fødevarer on Vimeo.

The result, a pilsner beer called Pisner, will see the light of day in Denmark this summer.

“Just as we have seen shops sell goods that would otherwise have been thrown out, beercycling allows us to recycle a product that is normally flushed down the drain. When it comes to circular economy, Danish farmers are some of the best in the world. If you can brew a beer with urine as fertiliser, you can recycle almost anything,” said Karen Hækkerup, CEO of the Danish Agriculture and Food Council.

READ ALSO: How Roskilde's guests control waste while getting wasted

The Danish Agriculture and Food Council is collaborating with brewery Nørrebro Bryghus to brew 60,000 bottles of the Pisner beer.  

“We want to be a part of the beercycling project partly due to the story it has already told, but also because it is interesting to partake in a project which addresses the challenges of sustainability and circular economy. Basically, it is a cool project,” Henrik Vang, executive director at Nørrebro Bryghus, said via a press release.

The brewing process started at the end of March and the public will be able to taste the finished product in June 2017.

ENVIRONMENT

New French website helps households recycle unwanted items

Online government service identifies how - and where - householders can recycle hundreds of domestic products quickly and safely

Racks of second-hand clothes at the famous Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris
Racks of second-hand clothes at Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Photo: Eric Piermont / AFP

The French government has launched a website to help people recycle old, no-longer wanted items, extend their lifespan and protect the environment.

Most people living in France know that local Emmaus centres will take away old items of furniture, or that most supermarkets have recycling points for used batteries and lightbulbs.

But did you know that, for example, Norauto car parts centres will take old fire extinguishers? Or that you can take that broken TV to one of several well-known appliance stores, and they will ensure that it is properly recycled?

The website lesbonneshabitudes.gouv.fr offers advice on what to do with those hundreds of household items, from medicines to solar panels, furniture to old boats – and just about anything and everything in between that you no longer use or want – and where you can take them to be properly and safely dealt with.

On entering the site you will be asked to pick the type of item you want to dispose of, and then directed to a map of disposal points near you. You can also do a postcode search.

ALSO READ: IN DETAIL: The financial aid to buy greener vehicles in France

Some items may be repaired and sold on as part of a rapidly growing ‘circular economy’. Others will be taken apart and recycled safely.

According to figures from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, recycling has increased by 13 percent in the past 10 years. 

It is hoped the website will help people recycle more, said Vincent Coissard, deputy director at the ministry in charge of waste and the circular economy. 

“Citizens really want to do the right thing in sorting,” he said, “whether it is by extending the life of a product, or more simply by recycling, but they do not necessarily know where to take their products. 

“Where they have to deposit the product is not necessarily the same depending on whether they have batteries, whether they have packaging or whether they have electronic equipment.”

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