Franz Bender managed to persuade a thousand individuals to bury their underwear — and it wasn’t for any bathroom-related reasons.
In 2021, the Swiss soil ecologist along with his team enlisted 1,000 citizen scientists to bury and later excavate underwear throughout Switzerland to gain insights into soil and its health. This research earned an Ig Nobel Prize in September, given annually for studies that invoke laughter followed by contemplation.
The results were unexpected for both the researchers and the participants, who found that the underground microorganisms often devoured the fabric to nearly nothing upon retrieval.
“The moment when individuals dug up their underwear and examined it was a truly eye-opening experience for many,” Bender, affiliated with the Agroscope agricultural research center in Zurich, mentioned to Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald.
“It’s intriguing to observe that soil is indeed alive, teeming with life that we often overlook beneath the surface.”
The research was published in Plants People Planet in August 2026.
However, Bender isn’t the first to bury underwear. This initiative actually has its origins in Canada.
The Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario began burying underwear in fields around Ontario around 2015, according to farmer Alan Kruszel. While cotton strips known as assays have been buried for decades, farmers found that using underwear added a fun twist.
The concept gained such popularity that Kruszel proposed taking it nationwide. Thus, the national “Soil Your Undies” campaign launched in 2017.
“It was an incredible success,” Kruszel, a board member with the Soil Conservation Council of Canada, stated to Quirks & Quarks.
“The aim was to encourage people to view soil as a living ecosystem and highlight the significance of soil and its health.”
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It wasn’t only farmers and soil scientists who took part in this quirky activity.
“I buried underwear with many different groups. We involved senators, university deans, schoolchildren, and even collaborated with the Canadian Ag Museum in Ottawa,” Kruszel recounted.
“Garden clubs … you wouldn’t believe the joy a group of elderly women had while holding up soiled underwear.”
A colleague of Bender noticed this initiative and proposed it for Switzerland, leading to a small event where families could bury underwear in the soil.
“The Swiss media loved it. It received extensive coverage,” Bender shared. “Then another collaborator suggested, ‘Why don’t we turn this into a citizen science project and make it larger?’”
Results of underwear buried in soil in arable land, lawns, and gardens on display in Switzerland. Soil ecologist Franz Bender said the study showed the underwear had the most decomposition in gardens and the least in lawns, with arable fields and grasslands in between. (Prisca Koller/Agroscope)
Bender and his research team required 1,000 citizen scientists, but received around 1,400 applications, necessitating a selection process for a geographically balanced representation across Switzerland. The team sent each volunteer two pairs of size small organic cotton underwear, 12 teabags for comparison, and comprehensive instructions.
“We provided clear illustrations on how they should be buried, at what depth, and where to place the teabags,” Bender explained.
Additionally, the team created a smartphone app for participants to submit extra details, such as photos and geographical information, while answering questions about the land use, like whether fertilizers or pesticides were applied.
The participants were instructed to excavate 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 consumes underwear
Underwear doesn’t seem like an appealing meal, yet for the microbes and other organisms in fertile, biologically active soil, it was a treat. In contrast, underwear unearthed from different types of soil appeared almost intact.
“In some cases, only the synthetic threads at the waistband remained. The fabric was entirely consumed,” Bender noted. “While in other instances, the underwear appeared nearly new.”
Overall, the greatest decomposition occurred in private gardens and flowerbeds, with the least seen in lawns. Arable lands and grasslands fell somewhere in between.
Bender clarified that gardens typically contain a lot of compost and might also have irrigation, creating nutrient-rich, moist conditions in the soil. This enhances soil biological activity, leading to the destruction of the buried underwear.
In contrast, lawns lack much species diversity above ground and are frequently mowed. Consequently, the soil system beneath lawns is not nearly as vibrant and active as that of gardens, resulting in some underwear buried in lawns appearing dirtier rather than consumed.
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There were some surprising findings, however. Bender expressed surprise at the high nutrient levels found in private gardens and the minimal decomposition of underwear in agricultural soil compared to his expectations.
Bender also warns that more biologically active soil isn’t necessarily “healthier.” It might, for instance, negatively impact biodiversity in forests or nature reserves.
Bender hopes this study raises awareness about the importance of soil, especially as human activities, such as chemical usage, affect it in unpredictable ways.
“Soil plays a crucial role in sustaining the cycle of life, and we all rely on it,” he stated. “Without adequate understanding of soil, it becomes challenging to safeguard it.”
Underwear boosts soil interest: profs
Asim Biswas, a professor and Canada Research Chair in digital agriculture at the University of Guelph, remarked that while the study is scientifically valid, its most significant contribution lies in the awareness it has generated regarding soil.
“It received major [media] attention across 25 countries — that’s remarkable,” he noted.
“I believe this was an excellent method of advocating for soil, as it’s humorous, and people tend to remember such things.”
Biswas supports Bender’s cautionary note that increased biological activity in soil doesn’t equate to improved health, and emphasizes that further research is still necessary in this area.
Soil scientists say burying and digging up underwear can be an effective method to measure the biological activity of soil, and it’s also been an effective way of getting people interested in soil. (Gabriela Braendle/Agroscope)
Joann Whalen, a soil researcher at McGill University, stated that the underwear approach offers a simpler, quicker, and more affordable alternative to chemical laboratory analyses.
“There may be instances where someone is keen to learn about their soil, but hasn’t had the chance or means to test it,” she explained.
“With a visual test like this, one can easily observe the degradation of the underwear, providing a rapid insight into soil conditions.”
The Soil Conservation Council of Canada endorses this method, and offers guidelines.
Moreover, the Swiss excavated underwear will have a new purpose. Bender and his team have partnered with a fashion designer who has already crafted a dress from some of the fabric.
“More fashion items are in the works,” Bender mentioned.