The start-up based in Gironde has just obtained authorization to market in France and in five European countries its biostimulant made from human urine.
The start-up collects urine at the Parc du Futuroscope, at motorway service areas, in colleges and high schools, but also at major festivals such as Rock en Seine, Solidays, etc.
The urine is then processed in a recycling plant based in Loupiac-de-la-Réole.
The start-up based in Loupiac-de-la-Réole (Gironde), Toopi Organics, announced on Monday the marketing in France and Europe of Lactopi StartTM, "the world's first urino-sourced biostimulant intended for agriculture".
By "urino-sourced", understand a product made from human urine.
"This first product is marketed in France following the favorable opinion of ANSES and marketing authorizations (MA) issued in five other European countries: Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Resulting from the research of Toopi Organics and its unique patented fermentation process, “Lactopi StartTM makes it possible to improve the efficiency of assimilation of phosphorus from the soil”, explains the Gironde start-up in a press release.
“Through its additional root stimulation effect, it also promotes the start of seedlings and thus secures access to water and nutrients while preserving soil quality.
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"Inexhaustible resource"
Toopi Organics inaugurated its recycling plant in Loupiac-de-la-Réole last June.
The start-up processes nearly 400,000 liters of urine there per year, collected in establishments and places open to the public, where conventional sanitary facilities are replaced by male and female waterless urinals, connected to collection tanks, without use of additional water for drainage.
The start-up now collects urine at the Futuroscope Park, at Vinci motorway rest areas, in colleges and high schools, but also at major festivals such as Rock en Seine, Solidays, etc.
Produced in a circular economy from "an inexhaustible resource", Lactopi StartTM can be used up to 25 L/ha, preferably at the start of the cycle, on the majority of agricultural crops.
If the idea of using urine as fertilizer is not new, "the idea of Toopi Organics is completely innovative, explains its founder Mickaël Roes: urine is no longer used as fertilizer, but as cultivation for microorganisms that improve the ability of plants to absorb nutrients naturally present in the environment.
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world premiere
To achieve this world first, Toopi Organics “scientifically demonstrated the benefit of using urine, which is naturally rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as a complete fermentation medium for the production of microbial biosolutions”.
About thirty trials in experimental plots and in real conditions of use in the field "have made it possible to demonstrate the benefit of Lactopi StartTM on the assimilation of mineral elements present in the soil, in particular phosphorus, and therefore a lesser dependence on fertilizers synthetic minerals while preserving the potential of plants and soil life.
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The annual volume of urine collected should reach 3.75 million liters in 2027, through around twenty sites in France.
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