London Marathon runners’ urine to be recycled to make bread

The move will help to reduce the carbon footprint of the world’s most popular marathon

Urine from thousands of women running this weekend's TCS London Marathon will be saved from sewage and turned into fertiliser.

That fertiliser will then be used to enhance the growth of wheat - a crop hungry for urine's nitrogen content - before eventually becoming loaves of bread for human consumption.

PEEQUAL - a pioneering women’s urinal company - have significantly reduced queues at two previous London Marathons.

This year they are teaming up with Bristol-based start-up NPK Recovery to recycle the urine of female participants.

The move will help to reduce the carbon footprint of the world’s most popular marathon.

Urine from nine urinals, positioned at the marathon’s yellow start, will be stored in order to be later processed into fertiliser.

Up to 1,000 litres are expected to be gathered from runners in Sunday's race.

According to Hannah Vandenbergh, founder of NPK Recovery, the urine from last year’s 53,700 London Marathon finishers could - if recycled - fertilise enough wheat to bake 3,142 loaves of bread.

Both start-ups share an overall objective to one day recycle all urine from large-scale events.

"Urine doesn’t have to be a waste product and we’re excited to be playing a small part in helping support the sustainability commitments of the iconic TCS London Marathon," said Ms Vandenbergh.

"Ultimately, we want to help event organisers all over recycle their urine and reduce their carbon footprints."

Susan Farrell, who is running the London Marathon for the NSPCC, said: "It’s brilliant to think that the nervous wees of thousands of women are helping a good cause.

"I used PEEQUAL’s novel urinals at Glastonbury – their design means they don’t sacrifice privacy and it honestly felt like we were cheating by skipping the queues," she added.

"I used to watch guys breeze through and think, ‘Why can’t we have that?’

"Now we do, and I really hope we get to see them at more events."

Amber Probyn, co-founder of PEEQUAL, argues that women shouldn’t have to choose between starting their race on time or waiting to go to the loo.

"We’re really proud that 1,000 litres of wee won’t go to sewage, and will instead be recycled into something amazing," she said.

The 2025 TCS London Marathon gets underway from 08:50am on Sunday, with coverage available to watch on BBC One.