Wee need your help...

If you thought urine was green, there may be something wrong with your eyesight. Or quite possibly your internal organs; either way you need to see a professional. But the truth of the matter is that your wee is  worse for the planet than you might think, containing a cocktail of chemicals including phosphate and nitrogen, which loos then mix with vast quantities of water. The result is an awful lot of liquid being wasted because the chemicals are difficult and costly to remove.

To help raise awareness of reducing our personal 'pee print', New Scientist recently ran this article on 'Pee cycling' which profiles some solutions that separate the offending liquid from the main sewage stream, allowing water to be recycled and the remaining chemicals to be used in products like fertilisers, instead of treated as waste. A prototype "no-mix" toilet has been developed, and is being tested in forward-thinking countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland. But will it take off in the UK? The main question in my mind is whether British males will take to one interesting feature of the green toilet: since it diverts waste down two separate pipes, both men and women will have to sit down to pee. Which leads to another important question: could this be the end of the loo-seat argument that has divided the sexes for centuries?

[via New Scientist]