This paper presents the results of an EU funded research project which demonstrated the potential of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for treating municipal waste water to generate treated water for use in fertigation of plant crops for human consumption. The project evaluated technical performance of pilot scale MBRs against a full sized activated sludge plant in Tunisia. Process economics were evaluated and full sized costings generated. The treated water quality was assessed for BOD/COD content, N and P content (for fertiliser potential), pathogen content, metals content, micro- and phyto-toxicity. The treated water was used for fertigation for the successful production of a variety of ornamental and human crop plants, both ground based and bushes / small trees, in a very arid region. Since this pilot trial project ran back in the early 2000s, full scale deployment of this approach is now being used in the Middle East at the scale of 276,000 m3 d-1 treating waste from about 900,000 people in Oman (2010). A similar scaled project near Casablanca in Morocco (2015), and in Egypt this principle is being applied at a scale of 7.5 million m3 d-1 near Cairo (2023 - the biggest water recycling plant in the world). Whilst the original pilot trials took place in Tunisia, and most installations globally are in the Middle East, there certainly lessons to learn for what might soon be a necessary application in the UK.