San Francisco, like many other urban communities, has a problem with its human population having to go and as a result of unpleasant incidents of public urination and the accompanying smell, has given PPlanter a $180,000 U.S. Community Challenge Grant. As an alternative to public toilets which apparently have been abused and trashed by San Franciscans (see the video), the PPlanter  contains a 190-liter (50 gallon) drum of water accompanied by a charcoal filter and zeolite, a substance that suppresses ammonia, the principle cause of urine odor.

To justify the project the Hyphae Design Lab have mapped the areas within San Francisco where public urination is proving to a be a significant odoriferous problem. They have supplied San Franciscan with an online app called PeeMapper to report locations for planning where future PPlanters should go.

Patrons pee behind a screened area and then use the foot-pump activated sink to wash their hands with water from the drum. For women PPlanter provides a disposable funnel to allow them to pee standing up. Both the urinal and sink get flushed with the fluid passing through a dosing tank containing the biofiltration system. The water is then fed to the discretely placed plants that serve three purposes – to provide a further filter, add greenery to the street and give further privacy to the urinater.  The denitrified urine is turned into plant soluble fertilizer.

And what grows well in filtered human urine? Apparently bamboo.