The city of Oxfordshire is the first in the country to turn raw sewage into bioenergy, with enough gas to power as many as 200 homes to begin with.

The project is just the first of several "human gas recycling projects" that could supply as much as 15 percent of the U.K.'s energy supply by 2020, according to an article in Reuters.

The article, by Daniel Fineran, continues:

In the joint venture between Thames Water, British Gas and Scotia Gas Networks, sewage arrives at the Didcot works from some of Thames Water's 14 million customers and their solids are then warmed-up in vats in a process called anaerobic digestion, where bacteria break down biodegradable material to make biogas.

The whole process from toilet visit to gas being piped back into people's homes takes around 20 days.

As the average person produces about 30 kilos of dried-out sludge, in theory Britain's 62.5 million toilet visitors could generate enough gas to meet the demand of 200,000 homes -- reducing reliance on imported gas.

"The gas that we are transporting from Didcot doesn't arrive from the North Sea or abroad, but instead comes from the very homes we are delivering the gas to," John Morea, Chief Executive of Scotia Gas Networks, said in a statement ahead of a barbecue on Tuesday morning where guests will tuck into biogas bacon butties.

"That's got to be recycling at its very best."

_{Photos CC-licensed by chefranden and jorgebrazil.}