Cutting out the middle man: Beer brewed from recycled URINE to go on sale at festival

  • Urine is being recycled at a Danish festival to help make beer
  • The 'beercycling' initiative hopes to collect 25,000 litres of urine
  • This will be used to create 425 kegs of beer
  • By 2017, people at the Roskilde Festival will be able to buy the beer

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

Festivalgoers in Denmark are being asked to donate their urine to help make beer.

The unusual project will repurpose up to 25,000 litres of urine from 100,000 people at the festival to help create 425 kegs.

The urine will then be stored and taken to nearby fields, where it will be used to fertilise barley.

Urine is being recycled at a Danish festival to help make beer. The 'beercycling' initiative hopes to collect 25,000 litres of urine. This will be used to create 425 kegs of beer. By 2017, people at the Roskilde Festival will be able to buy the beer. Shown is an image of Bruce Springsteen performing at the festival on 7 July 2012

Urine is being recycled at a Danish festival to help make beer. The 'beercycling' initiative hopes to collect 25,000 litres of urine. This will be used to create 425 kegs of beer. By 2017, people at the Roskilde Festival will be able to buy the beer. Shown is an image of Bruce Springsteen performing at the festival on 7 July 2012

The project is called ‘From P*ss to Pilsner’ and is being trialled at Europe’s largest music festival - Roskilde, in Zealand, Denmark - this week.

Dubbed ‘beercycling’, it is a joint initiative between the Danish Agriculture and Food Council (DAFC) and the festival’s organisers.

HAVE YOU ALREADY DRUNK DINOSAUR PEE?

According to the YouTube channel, Curious Minds, the amount of water on Earth has remained roughly the same for millions of years - meaning it is likely we have all drunk pee from dinosaurs.

Around 121,000 cubic miles (500,000 cubic kilometres) of water falls on the Earth in the form of precipitation every year, meaning this water has moved around the planet.

'This means that in every glass of water you drink, there is a lot of water which has already passed through a dinosaur and come out the other end,' the video said.

The book 'The Future of Water: A Startling Look Ahead,' by Steve Maxwell and Scott Yates cameto a similar conclusion.

'The water that dinosaurs drank is the same water we drink today, and the amount of water in the world is the same, too,' the authors write. 

Men are asked to urinate into a metal trough, with a sign reading: ‘Don’t waste your p*ss. Danish farmers can turn it into beer again.’

For women, card ‘urine directors’ are being handed out for them to add to the haul.

‘We’ve got urinals right next to the stages where the acts will play, so we’re hoping to collect some rock star pee as well,’ Marie Grabow Westergaard from the DAFC told The Guardian.

Acts at this year’s festival include Florence and the Machine, Sir Paul McCartney and Pharrell Williams.

By 2017, guests at the Roskilde Festival will be served beer that has been fertilised by their own urine this year.

The initiative is also intended to have a positive effect on the local environment. 

‘Beercycling is about changing our approach to waste, from being a burden to being a valuable resource,’ said Leif Nielsen, head of communication for the DAFC.

‘Today, the huge amount of urine produced at the festival is having a negative impact on the environment and the sewage system and treatment plant in Roskilde.

‘Beercycling will turn those many litres of urine into a resource.' 

Men are asked to urinate into a metal trough, with a sign reading: ‘Don’t waste your p*ss. Farmers can turn it into beer again.’ For women, card ‘urine directors’ are being handed out for them to add to the haul. Shown is the beercycling section at the festival

Men are asked to urinate into a metal trough, with a sign reading: ‘Don’t waste your p*ss. Farmers can turn it into beer again.’ For women, card ‘urine directors’ are being handed out for them to add to the haul. Shown is the beercycling section at the festival

By 2017, guests at the Roskilde Festival will be served beer (stock image shown) that has been fertilised by their own urine this year. ‘Beercycling is about changing our approach to waste, from being a burden to being a valuable resource,’ said Leif Nielsen, head of communication for the DAFC

By 2017, guests at the Roskilde Festival will be served beer (stock image shown) that has been fertilised by their own urine this year. ‘Beercycling is about changing our approach to waste, from being a burden to being a valuable resource,’ said Leif Nielsen, head of communication for the DAFC

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