Franz Bender managed to persuade a thousand individuals to bury their underwear — and he wasn’t asking for any bathroom habits.
In 2021, the Swiss soil ecologist and his team enlisted 1,000 citizen scientists to bury and later retrieve underwear across Switzerland, aiming to gain insights into soil composition and health. In September, the project received an Ig Nobel Prize, given annually for research that elicits laughter followed by reflection.
The initiative revealed unexpected findings for both researchers and participants, especially when they unearthed their underwear, which had often been consumed nearly entirely by the voracious microbes in the soil.
“The moment when participants excavated the underwear and examined it was quite enlightening for many,” Bender, who is affiliated with the Agroscope agricultural research center in Zurich, shared with Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald.
“It’s intriguing to realize that soil is teeming with life, and much of it exists beneath the surface, which we generally overlook.”
The study was published in Plants People Planet in August 2026.
However, Bender isn’t the pioneer of burying underwear. The practice actually has its origins in Canada.
The Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario began burying underwear in fields around 2015, according to farmer Alan Kruszel. While cotton strips known as assays had been buried for decades, farmers concluded that using underwear was more entertaining.
The activity was so enjoyable that Kruszel proposed expanding it nationally. Thus, in 2017, the national “Soil Your Undies” initiative was launched.
“It was an incredible success,” Kruszel, a board member of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada, remarked to Quirks & Quarks.
“The goal was to encourage people to view soil as a living ecosystem and to raise awareness about its significance and health.”
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Moreover, it wasn’t solely farmers and soil scientists interested in placing items typically worn beneath clothing into the earth.
“I buried underwear with a variety of people. We did it with senators, university deans, school children, and even collaborated with the Canadian Ag Museum in Ottawa,” Kruszel recounted.
“Garden clubs … you wouldn’t believe how much fun a group of elderly women had displaying soiled underwear.”
A colleague of Bender’s noticed the trend and proposed trying it out in Switzerland. A small event was organized where families buried underwear in the soil.
“The Swiss media was thrilled. It received extensive coverage,” Bender said. “Then another collaborator suggested, ‘Why not turn this into a citizen science project and make it larger?’”
Outcomes of underwear buried in soil from agricultural land, lawns, and gardens exhibited in Switzerland. Soil ecologist Franz Bender noted that the study indicated the most decomposition occurred in gardens, with lawns showing the least, while agricultural fields and grasslands fell in between. (Prisca Koller/Agroscope)
Bender and his research group sought 1,000 citizen scientists, but received around 1,400 applications, necessitating a selection process for geographic diversity across Switzerland. Bender’s team sent each volunteer two pairs of small organic cotton underwear, 12 teabags for comparison, along with detailed instructions.
“We provided clear illustrations showing how to bury them, the appropriate depth, and where to place the teabags,” Bender explained.
The team also created a smartphone app for participants to upload additional details, such as photographs and location data, as well as answer questions regarding the land, including whether it was fertilized or treated with pesticides.
The citizen scientists retrieved one pair of underwear and one set of teabags after four weeks, and the second pair of underwear along with the remaining teabags after eight weeks.
Hungry soil devours underwear
While underwear may not seem like a desirable meal, for the microbes and other organisms in rich, biologically active soil, it was a feast. In contrast, underwear dug up from different soil types often appeared almost intact.
“In certain cases, only the synthetic fibers from the waistband remained. The underwear was completely consumed,” Bender stated. “In others, the underwear looked almost brand new.”
Overall, the most significant decomposition occurred in private gardens and flowerbeds, while lawns showed the least. Agricultural fields and grasslands were somewhere in between.
Bender elaborated that gardens typically contain ample compost and possibly irrigation, creating nutrient-rich soil conditions that promote biological activity, which in turn leads to deteriorated underwear.
Conversely, lawns lack significant species diversity above ground and are frequently mowed. Hence, the soil system beneath lawns is not nearly as vibrant and active as in gardens, resulting in some buried underwear appearing more dirty than eaten.
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Unexpected findings also emerged. Bender noted he was astonished by the high nutrient levels in private gardens and how little decomposition occurred in farm soil, contrary to his expectations.
Bender also cautions that more biologically active soil does not necessarily equate to “healthier” soil; it could negatively impact biodiversity in forests or nature reserves.
Bender aims to raise awareness about the vital role of soil, particularly as human activities like chemical usage have uncertain impacts on it.
“Soil is essential for sustaining the cycle of life, and we all rely on it,” he emphasized. “When our understanding of soil is lacking, it complicates efforts to protect it.”
Underwear sparks interest in soil: academics
Asim Biswas, a professor and Canada Research Chair in digital agriculture at the University of Guelph, stated that while the study is methodologically sound, its most significant contribution lies in the awareness it has raised about soil.
“It received substantial [media] attention in 25 countries — that’s remarkable,” he remarked.
“This initiative serves as a creative advocacy tool for soil, as it presents a humorous angle that people tend to remember.”
Biswas echoes Bender’s warning that more biologically active soil isn’t inherently healthier, emphasizing the need for further research on this issue.
Soil scientists assert that burying and recovering underwear can effectively gauge soil’s biological activity, while simultaneously generating public interest in soil. (Gabriela Braendle/Agroscope)
Joann Whalen, a McGill University professor specializing in soil research, indicated that this underwear method is a simpler, faster, and more economical alternative to lab-based chemical tests.
“Some individuals may be interested in their soil but lack the opportunity or time to conduct tests,” she noted.
“A visual assessment like this, where you can witness the degradation of the underwear, provides a quick insight into the condition of your soil.”
The Soil Conservation Council of Canada supports this initiative and offers guidance.
Furthermore, the unearthed underwear from Switzerland will be repurposed. Bender and his team have teamed up with a fashion designer who has already crafted a dress from some of the material.
“More fashion items will emerge from this,” Bender predicted.