Queensland Urine-Diverting Toilet (UDT) Trial – Launch Details

Amendments to the Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 and Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code to support a urine diverting toilets research trial. This trial is a practical step toward circular economy solutions in the built environment.
 

Queensland’s urine-diverting toilet (UDT) research trial was officially launched in late June 2025. The Queensland Government approved regulatory changes on 26 June 2025 to enable the trial. This amendment allows the trial to proceed over a multi-year period – in fact, the trial authorisation extends until 31 December 2032. This long timeframe provides for installation and evaluation of UDTs over about seven years before the trial concludes in 2032.

Coordinating Agencies and Partners

The UDT trial is being led by Queensland Urban Utilities in collaboration with academic and industry partners through the Australian Research Council’s Nutrients in a Circular Economy (NiCE) Hub. Queensland Urban Utilities (the water utility for South-East Queensland) identified the opportunity to harvest nutrients from urine as part of this ARC-funded research initiative. A university partner (through the NiCE Hub) is co-leading the trial – for example, the hub involves multiple universities and industry stakeholders in advancing nutrient recovery technologies. The Queensland Government (Department of Housing and Public Works) facilitated the trial by adjusting laws and codes, but day-to-day research and implementation are driven by Urban Utilities and the NiCE Hub team.

Trial Locations and Sites

The trial will be implemented at select sites within Urban Utilities’ service region in South-East Queensland. Specifically, the participating local government areas authorized for UDT installations are Brisbane City, Ipswich City, Lockyer Valley Regional, Scenic Rim Regional, and Somerset Regional – the five council areas served by Queensland Urban Utilities. Importantly, the approval restricts installations to non-residential premises in these areas (e.g. public amenities or commercial buildings, not private homes), and only with the property owner’s agreement. Potential trial sites could include public facilities or commercial buildings (for example, park toilets or institutional campuses) where the new UDT technology can be tested in a real-world setting. These geographic and site limitations ensure the trial is controlled and monitored within the urban SEQ region.

Goals and Expected Outcomes

The UDT trial’s goals center on innovation in wastewater management and resource recovery. Key expected outcomes include:

• Nutrient Recovery for Fertiliser: Capturing nitrogen (and other nutrients) from separated urine and converting it into fertiliser products. By “harvesting” the valuable nutrients in human urine (sometimes dubbed “liquid gold”), the trial aims to create a sustainable source of agricultural fertiliser.
• Reducing Load on Treatment Systems: Easing the pressure on conventional wastewater treatment plants by diverting urine at the source. Removing urine (which contains most of the nitrogen and phosphorus in domestic wastewater) can reduce the energy and chemical demands of sewage treatment, since less nutrient load enters the sewer system.
• Advancing the Circular Economy: Demonstrating a circular economy approach where waste streams (urine) are turned into useful resources (fertiliser), closing the nutrient loop. This contributes to both environmental sustainability and potential economic benefits (e.g. creating value from waste).

Beyond these core goals, the trial is expected to drive plumbing and sanitation innovation in Queensland. By piloting novel urine-separation toilet technology, the project helps Queensland “lead the way” in new waste-management solutionsh. The lessons from this trial (technical performance, user acceptance, health safety, etc.) will inform future plumbing practices and standards, and build public confidence in urine-derived fertilisers as a normal part of sustainable agriculture. Overall, the initiative is about proving that decentralized nutrient recovery toilets can benefit the environment and the economy through innovation in sanitation.

Regulatory and Code Amendments Enabling the Trial

To make the UDT trial possible, the Queensland Government implemented specific regulatory amendments in 2025. Normally, all plumbing fixtures in Australia must carry WaterMark certification and comply with standard codes, but prior to this trial no urine-diverting toilet had a WaterMark or established installation standard, which was a barrier to any real-world trialhousing.qld.gov.au. In response, authorities introduced a temporary exemption and new guidelines for UDTs:

• Plumbing Regulation Amendment: The Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 was amended (via Amendment Regulation No. 2 of 2025) to approve UDTs for installation as part of the trial. This change provides a legal authorization for using non-certified urine-diverting toilets exclusively within the defined trial project. The amendment explicitly permits the installation of UDT units under the trial partnership (between Urban Utilities and the research university) and sets an end date of the trial (end of 2032) in legislationl. In essence, it creates a regulatory carve-out so that UDT prototypes can be installed without breaching plumbing laws.
• Plumbing Code Update: Alongside the regulation change, the Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code (QPWC) was updated (Version 2025.1) to include a new “Part F – Urine Diversion Trial” section. This new code section provides clear installation and operation requirements for the trial UDT systems. For example, it likely covers how the urine diverter toilets must be plumbed, ventilated, treated, and maintained to protect public health and safety during the experiment. By adding these tailored guidelines into the code, Queensland ensured that even experimental toilets meet acceptable standards for performance (e.g. preventing any untreated urine release, protecting against odours or health risks) during the trial.

These regulatory adjustments took effect in June 2025, clearing the way for the trial to proceed legally. They strike a balance between innovation and safety: allowing a controlled trial of new UDT technology while stipulating conditions to safeguard health and the environment. The Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works (which oversees plumbing regulation) highlighted that this approach enables the state to explore the benefits of UDTs in a practical setting, which previously was “difficult to investigate… in a real-world context” due to regulatory hurdles. Now, with the trial underway, Queensland is positioned to gather data on how urine-diverting toilets perform and potentially update codes and product standards in the future based on the outcomes.

For more information, read the Building and Plumbing Newsflash 634.