2.6 billion people just got their own toilet
When I first saw the Peepoo bag I thought it was a joke, but after reading about it I realized it's quite a novel idea. Basically it's a plastic bag to go to the bathroom in, which is why I thought it was a joke, but this simple little bag employs some sophisticated sustainable solutions and solves some pretty daunting problems.
In the developing world clean water and sanitation are very scarce. This is due to over population and lack of infrastructure and poses a serious health risk to the affected populations. In these parts of the world not only do they lack the infrastructure to attain clean water, they also lack the infrastructure needed to deal with all their waste, so they end up contaminating the little water they have. Around the world, one child dies every 15 seconds from to contaminated water. For them the saying "Don't piss where you drink" isn't a clever metaphor, it's a real life challenge.
We have the technology to solve this problem, we have for ages, but the problem is that traditional wastewater treatment and sanitation systems are very expensive and difficult to install. That is where the Peepoo bag comes in. It is a very inexpensive and easily deployable.
The idea of using plastic bags to dispose of waste isn't a new idea. Quite common in the slums of Kenya, they are called "Flying Toilets" because after they are used the bags are thrown out the window. These are simple, cheaply made, plastic bags and don't really remove the waste, they just move it around. The Peepoo bag is different because of several features that actually make it a sanitation system.
How It Works...
The Peepoo bag is a long thin bag (14 x 38 cm) with a guaze liner, and coated on the inside by a thin film of Urea. Urea is the most common fertiliser in the world and is a non-hazardous chemical. When the urea comes into contact with faeces or urine, an enzymatic breakdown takes place into ammonia and carbonate, driven by enzymes which are naturally occurring in faeces. As the urea is broken down, the pH value of the material increases and hygienisation begins. Waste born pathogens (viruses, bacteria and parasites) are killed over a period of a couple hours to a few weeks.
Filled Peepoo bag after about one month in a soil garden in Germany (November 2008)
The Peepoo bags are biodegradable (currently made from 45% renewable materials but they aim to up that to 100%), and when the bags degrade in the soil, the ammonia byproduct acts as a harmless fertiliser taken up by the plants. So not only does the Peepoo bag help them get rid of hazardous waste, it provides a valuable agricultural resource.
An added benefit is that the Peepoo bags provide a sanitation while conserving one of their most valuable resources, water. The system doesn't require any water, other than to wash your hands after use.
To learn more check out their site at peepoople.com
The Peepoo bag can also be used inside a cut plastic bottle.
Sources: peepoople.com & Ecosan's Flickr Page
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100% biodegradable plastics take 2-5 years to biodegrade, this may be progressive thinking but by no means a viable solution to the massive problem.
Very interesting. Are these widely available in the regions where they are needed? Distributed by a care agency? I find it difficult to believe that a local population would willing use this if they had to purchase it.
i want one!
When I worked in Africa, I was amazed at how uneducated and unmotivated Africans were. I was building houses, and I had a audience wathching me every day, they never offered to help. We were building one house for a larger family (20+ kids) and I asked some of the older ones, who were adults, to help. They wanted to know how much I was going to pay them! Here I am working on THEIR house, and they expected me to pay them to build them their own house.
Where I was working (Swaziland) 26% of the adult population had AIDS. Yet they’re still promiscuis, and the women put sand in their vaginas before sex, because they like “dry” sex. Of course this abrades the walls of the vagina and they bleed during after sex facilitating the transmission of HIV. It is a bizarre practice, and they can’t get it into their heads that this is an unhealthy practice. They get the sand from outside their hut, right where they pee. It stinks so much, the smell it can scare maggots from a dead donkey I lived in Africa for three years trying to “civilize” them. I came back home in disgust. I think they’re a lost cause. They don’t want to be educated. You can show a man how to dig a hole, but you can’t make him dig. If he refuses, do you dig the hole? I gave $40 to a local once so that he can have his daughter see a doctor. Instead he bought rum with it. The kid lost her hearing in one ear because of it. What do you do when a whole community is like that? They do not value knowledge or education. What can you do with people like that? You leave and go home in frustration, utterly defeated. Now I just say fuck em, let them live in their own shit.. Can’t speak for the rest of Africa, but in Swaziland, they’re not normal humans.
Wow Im freakin speechless. You would think that they would be kissing the ground you walk on .To stand there and watch you build them a house and then want to get paid to help. Your absoultly right Fuck Them! But unfourtunatly we have people here in America that are just as stupid and lazy as them. Im living in a situation now where everyday I see lives wasting away. Because of laziness and sheer not giving a fuck about anyone but themselfs But I wanted to say that I admire you for trying I always dreampt that I would join the peace corp But due to a physical problem they wont have me. I volunteer alot But It seems the older and wiser I get I dont want to help someone who doesnt want or appreciate it Take Care
PeePoo??? I’ve been pooping in bags for years and they just pile up under the couch. works for me, hell my animals have something to eat now too! Win Win situation except for all the plastic I use. Man I need to recycle
I have lived and worked is third world countries including Sub-Sarahan Africa.
Many parts of the third world are lands of milk and honey. They live in squalor, dirt, disease and poverty because that’s what they choose. I have seen aid from western industrialised countries spent by an African ruler on a Rolls Royce (in a country with 3 miles of paved road), given to thei cronies and what wasn’t spent on light skinned prostitutes in western capitols finished up in secret Swiss bank accounts.
A particularly nasty aspect of the third world is that their leaders prey on their citizens. The last time I was in Zambia a old woman told me that she wished the British would come back. When I asked why she said: “When the Brits were here we had law and order (their food crops weren’t stolen), standpipes in the streets with clean water, latrines, a clinic to which a nurse and doctor came once a week, a school and a bus into town twice a week where they could buy and sell produce. Now we have nothing.”
New from the makers of the shit-piss bag!
You people are full of shit.
What is your problem? That is not a contructive comment.
And poo girl is a constructive name? Let’s not forget: we’re talking about teaching people how to take a shit. I think a little mockery at the issue (so long as it’s not racially-oriented) might be a little entertaining.
If I may be so bold, I think this entire argument is bogus. Let’s take a step back so my points are clear:
1) What is this argument achieving?
Nothing.
2) Is the outcome of the argument going to change anything
No.
3) Are these ‘shit bags’ affecting OUR lives in any way?
Once again, the answer is no.
So, poo girl, nothing you have said nor anything anyone else has said was ‘constructive’. this whole debate is pointless, and I’m beginning to question why I’m wasting time posting this.
You see, let’s just step down from our arrogant, asshole pedastals. If these people wanted our help, they’d ask. They don’t. Most countries missionaries and such help really aren’t helping at all; they’re forcing themselves upon people because we’re so arrogant we assume they want our help. And, frankly, a bag to shit in isn’t helping, either, whether or not they wanted it.
Point being, this debate over a bag to go pee-pee in is idiotic and a waste of time, and the only reason I’m wasting MY time to post on it is in hopes that maybe people will wake up and smell the shit and just shut up.
this is ridiculous and absolutely disrespectful.
you think thats helpful and why?
why would it be better to produce a mnufactured bag for peeing and pooing where people might as well just visit a tree or a bush to do so ..
ridiculous american ideas…
See, this is why it will never work. Even in a posting where the reason for using the bag is clear (sanitation), someone still suggests “visit a tree or a bush”. And FYI, I think the organization behind it is Swiss not American. Ignorant and racist–congratulations, you have the complete package
I wish people would read the article before making stupid comments.
Brilliant Idea.
I have the image of tens of thousands of these things ‘biodegrading’ in a giant pile. Sure, it’s cute to see one of those plastic bags buried halfway in a tiny patch of dirt, but I seriously doubt that this technology scales.
People in terribly impoverished places which are also terribly overpopulated first need to be kept from reproducing.
People in terribly impoverished places which are not terribly overpopulated need to be taught how to make sanitary latrines.
hm… interesting
How wonderful!!
This could be a good idea, but the color of the bag needs to be improved.
can women pee in a bag?
guys can aim their penis into the bag, men and women can hold it under them to poo, but since women have a vagina instead of a penis, how do they control their pee into the bag?
er….women don’t piss out of their vaginas, you moron….
and they can put in in a plastic bottle, as pictured above. how do they pee in cups when they go to the doctor? use some common sense…
I’m not disagreeing with you but I thought I’d point out how uncommon “common sense” is these days.
Why yes…how very, very true.
genius…. i am impressed…
Not just a problem in Africa, but one right here in the good ol’ US of A. You want to climb Mt. Whitney, you’ve got to poop into a bag…
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/packitout.shtml
we need to get these into Iraq. i used something called a WAG BAG (waste alleviation and gelling) for 8 months at some of the more remote army bases here. you basically crap in a bag and then light it on fire to remove it. not very healthy for the environment OR for your lungs
i used to live in africa untill i was 10. i am now 15. let me tell all you something: when we are starving, why whould we want to pay to poo/pee in a bag when, the majority of the time, the is a largley forested area in backyard? it way my family did it.
He look so proud to hold his shiter bag.
Sanitation is about dignity. And it is not dignifying to let people pee and poo in a plastic bag (even if it is biodegradable). As mentioned in some comments, poor people “do” it out of necessity and use plastic bags (also called UFOs, since they throw them away). These people will never spend money to buy these bags.
Can you imagine how many bags a family of 5-10 people will produce per day (@ 3 x a day)? It is a well meant but poorly thought through idea promoted by GTZ & Co. to justify their existence and further government funding.
Wow Allan, you are making a lot of arrogant assumptions, and projecting your values on people from a completely different culture.
1. Sanitation is not about “dignity” it’s about HEALTH!!! While dignity is important to some people, who says using a bag is not dignified? Besides there far more dignity dedicating in a bag and being healthy than doing it in a bucket you dump out your window so your neighbors walk through your sh!t before it seeps into your water supply and the bacteria kills you.
2. “These people will never spend money to buy these bags.” Did it occur to you these are not being marketed to individuals but rather aid groups or to municipalities to use a bridge to help keep their community clean until they can afford a large waste management infrastructure overhaul?
3. “t is a well meant but poorly thought through idea” – No, you comment was poorly though through!
Besides all of your ill-conceived criticisms can you think of a better solution? Please, please, go ahead and say it like all the other idiots above… “just go dig a hole”… in the middle of the f#@ing city!?
great and innovative invention..
all yal are f#### exept mike embreo
Here are some thoughts to add to the discussion about why infrastructure-based solutions don’t always work, especially in urban contexts (which the Peepoo bag is targeted towards).
– in densely populated urban areas land is scarce and there is not always room to build toilets, especially basic pit (hole) latrines that require continual reconstruction once they fill.
- in most slums, residents do not own the land and therefore may not have a) the right to build a toilet or b) the inclination to risk investing in a toilet when they could be kicked off the land at any moment
- in many urban communities in the developing world, toilets are political. They create opportunities for people to exercise control over access or to extort money from users.
- So called ‘community toilets’ are – more often than not – disasters, as people generally don’t enjoy cleaning up each other’s shit (and even in our own societies there are always those who don’t clean up after themselves).
- Women in many parts of the developing world are – for social, cultural or religious reasons – not able to access public toilets during the daytime. And unfortunately, in many places, if they venture out to do so at night, they risk violent or sexual attacks. ‘Holding it in’ all day also leads to frequent infections and reduces the inclination to eat and drink, reducing overall health/nutrition.
- Infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain. One latrine can only serve a limited number of people, and only lasts a limited amount of time before it is full and must be emptied or covered over and reconstructed elsewhere.
If Pee Poo Bag is a biodegradable this will be a good substitute to other plastic made bags.
Srs question b/c I pee in a cut 2 liter on a daily basis..does menstrual blood contribute in any way?
As reported by Ibn Battuta, Africans in Tanzania had indoor plumbing while Europeans were tossing waste out the window… unbagged. Nobody has to TEACH us. We have been deliberately destablized such that our ancient tried and true pre-colonial hygienic practices were lost. The average urban dweller today anywhere does NOT know how to survive as well as their foreparents from 1910 who were most likely closer to the land.
The shortage of land due to the HIGH DENSITY, not overpopulation is the problem with disposing of the now FLYING PEEPOO bags. I am thinking that these bags would be good for the short-term ie, Haitian Earthquake recovery, refugee camps, anywhere where the dislocated have camped, anywhere the sanitation situation is dire. Perhaps in some areas, they can be dumped in a latrine or garden just like taking out the trash. The average industrialized citizen consumes MORE of the world’s resources than a whole village of non-industrialized people. so who needs to practice birth control? Can cellulose based plastics or coated papers work with this bag? In sparsely populated areas, no problem, however, as a mother on the road in urban environments, I have defecated in a regular plastic bag while safe inside my van rather than venture outside, so yes, I’ll take a few dozen.
Fine and dandy until you run out of them and then find regular bags when non are available… This is a short term solution to a much bigger problem.
Can someone put a real estimation of yearly cost per household for this solution?
Phillip, a full analysis of Peepoo in the Indian context can be found here.
This bag would not work in the Indian context. Check out the analysis here.
http://rahulbrown.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/will-the-peepoo-disposable-toilet-work-for-indian-slums/
This bag would not work in the context of Indian slum.
Check out the analysis here.
http://rahulbrown.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/will-the-peepoo-disposable-toilet-work-for-indian-slums/
Now we need a few tasteful innovations to make this a standard part of every American home; we could have one more wrinkle to recycling that would benefit agriculture in a massive sustainable way that also phases out toxic fertilizers while moving our own waste stream away from our water supply, saving money in the process!