Mark Hester

re:SOURCE – Redefining our Place in the Nutrient Cycle by Re-valorising Urine, MA Regenerative Design, Runner Up, 2025

Mark Hester

re:SOURCE explores a regenerative future where nutrients from human urine are re-valorised into useful products rather than being flushed away. At the heart of the project is a machine that grows the superfood spirulina using urine, inviting people to explore their own relationship with the nutrient cycle.

re:SOURCE explores a regenerative future where nutrients from human urine are re-valorised into useful products rather than being flushed away. At the heart of the project is a machine that grows an edible superfood called spirulina using urine. This machine invites people to explore their own relationship with the nutrient cycle.

Most people don’t realise that their urine is a powerhouse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, which get there through the food we eat. That food was grown using fertilisers made with those very same nutrients. In the case of phosphorus, fertiliser manufacturers source it by mining finite rock formations in a handful of geopolitically unstable regions, creating a vulnerable supply chain. At the same time, the phosphorus in our pee gets into the environment through leaky wastewater treatment systems, where it builds up and contributes to harmful algal blooms.

Wouldn’t it make sense to fix this broken cycle by recycling the nutrients from our urine back into fertiliser?

Engaging people with this issue is difficult because it requires thinking at a systems-change level –there’s also a natural revulsion to talking about bodily fluids. This inspired the creation of a machine that grows a superfood called spirulina using a nutrient medium derived from urine. The machine (known as a bioreactor) and the edible microalgae it grows provoke people to ask all the right questions: Isn’t urine dirty? (Spoiler alert – it leaves the body mostly sterile and, if properly stored, becomes more sterile over time.) How well does spirulina grow on urine? Whose urine was used? Does the spirulina taste any different?

From experience, the re:SOURCE project team knows you’ll never look at your urine the same way once you’ve had a delicious spirulina smoothie made with it.

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