Durban pays you to pee

Get paid to pee. That's the deal on offer in the South African city of Durban, where the city is looking to buy liquid waste to encourage residents to use dry toilets.

Get paid to pee. That's the deal on offer in the South African city of Durban, where the city is looking to buy liquid waste to encourage residents to use dry toilets.

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Aiming to improve hygiene and save money, the port city has installed in home gardens about 90,000 toilets that don't use a single drop of water.

Now Durban wants to install 20-litre containers on 500 of the toilets to capture urine — rich in nitrates, phosphorus and potassium, which can be turned into fertiliser.

“If we can turn the toilets into a source of revenues, then they will want to use the toilets,” said Neil MacLeod, Durban's head of water and sanitation.