Michigan fans heading to Saturday’s rivalry game against Michigan State can do more than just tailgate and watch the action - they can also help fuel a research project by donating urine.
The collection effort is tied to an event called “The Piss Off,” a collaboration coordinated by Michigan’s Nutrient-Energy-Water (N-E-W) Cycles Group, according to The Athletic. Researchers from both schools will be gathering urine from tailgaters as part of the project.
Two donation stations with standing urinals will be set up outside Michigan Stadium at Ann Arbor Golf & Outing Club, across from gates 2 and 4, the University of Michigan said. The stations are scheduled to be open from 1 p.m.
ET until the end of the game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The urine won’t just be collected and discarded. According to the event’s site, it will be pasteurized into a “6x concentrate using a patented freeze-thaw process,” then processed so nutrients can be isolated, “turning phophorus and potassium into solid struvite” fertilizer pellets.
Those pellets will be used on plants at Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, as well as Michigan State’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station.
“The Piss Off is our first stadium-scale pilot in the United States: a home game tailgate's worth of urine donations, turned into usable fertilizers,” the event’s site reads. “Your urine donations are transformed into fertilizers for our research collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU).”
The site also says it hopes “to expand to sitting [urinal] options in the future.”
Per The Athletic, Michigan’s Urine Processing Room can handle 50 liters of urine per day and produces 150 to 200 pounds of nitrogen per year.
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