The ick factor: Dutch project making bike lanes and bottles from used loo roll

A pilot scheme in the Netherlands is sifting sewage for cellulose, which it says can be recycled into valuable products

When you flush the toilet, you're probably not thinking about bike lanes or home insulation. But that's where your used loo roll could one day end up if a Dutch project to extract cellulose from sewage rolls out.

At the Geestmerambacht wastewater treatment plant near Alkmaar in the Netherlands, a two-year pilot project is using an industrial sieve to sift 400kg of cellulose, the natural fibres found in loo roll, from toilet sludge each day.