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Brits Advised to Spend a Penny on Their Gardens

By Minnesotastan in Everything Else, Home & Garden on Nov 16, 2009 at 11:56 pm


pee bales 2The National Trust is encouraging their gardeners to urinate on bales of straw.  A three-meter-long “pee bale” has been established at Wimpole Hall; gardeners visit the bale when nature calls (and when visitors are not present, because “we don’t want to scare the public.”)  The bales are later added to the compost heap.

Only male gardeners are participating, in part because of some dubious claims regarding gender-based differences in urine:  “There are obvious logistical benefits to limiting it to male members of the team, but also male pee is preferable to women’s, as the male stuff is apparently less acidic.”

A secondary benefit is anticipated in terms of water conservation:

“An average flush of the lavatory can use anything from four and a half to nine litres of water each time, but what people may not realise is that this water is treated to the same standard as drinking water and shouldn’t be wasted.”  Urinating outdoors or in the shower is advocated by environmental activists, including Cameron Diaz, as a way of tacking climate change by saving water and energy.

They are tentatively encouraging the public to follow their lead: ““Adding a little pee just helps get it all going; it’s totally safe and a bit of fun too.”

Links for the Telegraph and the BBC (where there is an explanatory video).


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COMMENT
  1. Miss Cellania
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 12:41 am

    OK, but what does spending a penny have to do with it?

  2. Minnesotastan
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 12:45 am

    It's "British English," explained here -

    http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spend-a-penny.html

    and was part of the introduction at the BBC video.

  3. Heroh
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:07 am

    This is nice and all... I mean, it's best of intentions, right? But aside from the fact that they want men to pee instead of women, how about they have people pee who AREN'T on various medications, instead!
    I'd rather have the slight hormonal and acidic differences between male and female pee being recycled than various chemicals that the multitudes take and gets passed out of the system through urination.

    Besides, there's gotta be a cleaner, more efficient way, methinks.

  4. Johnny Cat
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:45 am

    Now, let's not make hay out of this.

  5. B.M.
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 5:51 am

    I like to piss in people's sinks.

  6. anon1
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 10:30 am

    I think the fancy loo at Harrod's now costs over a pound to use. That's a pricey tinkle.

  7. Trabb's Boy
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 11:00 am

    Oh goody, another excuse for men to whip it out in public.

  8. Splint Chesthair
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    Be careful, I'm stuck on a sex-perverts list now just because I did this without official approval.

  9. christine
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    that's bloody nasty!

  10. Old Geezer
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    Let's do some math. The BBC article says that 10 out of 70 male gardeners are doing this, resulting in a 30% saving of water. So, if all of the male gardeners did this, they would save 210% of the water they now use, possibly resulting in some sort of flood?

  11. Skipweasel
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Our downstairs loo uses just over a litre on half-flush and is rain-fed anyway so water isn't so much an issue in this house - but when the compost heap's too dry I give it a little sprinkle from time to time.

    But not at the allotment - wouldn't want to frighten the ladies.

  12. pwscott
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    @Skip. I like the idea of a rain-fed tank myself. I'm looking to filter and feed it to the washing machine.

    I'm sure this is great water saver but peeing on hay won't save the world. I hope the cows don't get any. :p

  13. Skipweasel
    Nov 17th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    I don't do it to save the world, I do it 'cos it makes better compost. The marigolds in our conservatory window box were nearly 4' tall this year. A mistake we won't be repeating - you couldn't see much of the garden.

  14. Ajax Harington
    Nov 18th, 2009 at 10:55 am

    There is a long history of people trying to work out what to do with our waste products...

    http://lavatoryreader.typepad.com/the-lavatory-reader/introduction.htm l

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