Porta-potty company reuses urine for plants

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) — A local porta potty company makes sure your waste doesn’t go to waste.

One porta potty can save up to 30,000 gallons of water a year compared to a traditional flush toilet.

Wasted porta-potties can also help your plants prosper.

A trailside tinkle started it all — outdoor enthusiast Taylor Zehren was struck by how seamlessly pee blends back into the earth.

“Your urine is full of all of these nutrients that plants can reuptake in the soil,” said Zehren.

That’s why she created Wasted — a waste management company in Williston with porta potties that harness this unusual form of liquid gold.

Their porta potties collect pee from standing users, but their newest tech works for seated users too. It has a ramp that sends pee down a tube, while solids are separated using a conveyor belt.

Zehren’s husband, Thor Retzlaff, shows how a pedal sends the waste away.

The couple estimates Wasted has diverted 20,000 gallons of pee since its start in 2020.

“That number is going up every month, especially as we get more and more of these urine-diverting systems out into the world,” said Retzlaff.

Their porta-potties are spread throughout Boston and Burlington.

Your pee is delivered to a facility where it will pass through this tube, move through the facility, and eventually become fertilizer. Pee is pasteurized to kill off any contaminants.

They turn what’s left into fertilizers called Tinkle Tonic and Weebloom — rich with the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium needed to grow plants.

Retzlaff and Zehren say it turns heads, but customers lean into it once they learn it doesn’t smell like pee and returns vital nutrients back to nature.

“We’re giving people permission to talk about pee and poo in a cool way, because we’re doing something cool with it and something that every single human can participate in,” said Retzlaff.

“Sort of having people understand the power of their own nutrients and the human metabolism and its role in a greater natural cycle,” said Zehren.

The couple hopes their system relieves some pee processing pressure at wastewater treatment plants.

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