Case Study 3 - Peepoo
Case Study 3 – Peepoo Bag
Areas of impact: Healthcare, sanitation and environment
Social enterprise location: Based in Stockholm, Sweden, for use in developing countries with poor access to sanitation
Short description of activities:
40 per cent of the world's population lack regular access to a sanitary toilet. The Peepoo bag is designed to give easy access to a toilet in the form of an inexpensive, self-sanitising, biodegradable bag.
Why it’s a social design:
The design addresses the need for sanitation in developing nations and other contexts where access to sanitation is poor. Within two to four weeks after use, the contents of the Peepoo bag are converted to a high-quality fertiliser providing a source of enrichment for crops or income for an individual or village.
What is its design aspect?
The Peepoo bag is designed to function when the user is sitting, squatting or standing; the single-use, biodegradable plastic bag measures 14 by 38 cm and is lined with a urea-coated gauze layer that disinfects all waste.
Used bags are odour-free for at least 24 hours and are safe for burial underground where they will decompose to rich fertilizer after two to four weeks. The design addresses two needs; the need for sanitation and the need for crop fertiliser.
Main actors and interactions (including stakeholders, networks, services and revenue streams):
- Villagers without sanitation
- SEC Soweto East in Kibera, Nairobi
- Communication consultant LOWE Brindfors
- Technical development consultant SemconCaran
- Chemical company BASF
- Bioplastic producer Tenova
- SLU Swedish University of Agricultural Science
- KTH Royal College of Technology.
Social Impact:
- The Peepoo gives people with no regular access to clean toilets a private, safer, hygienic and more dignified method of defecating
Economic Impact:
- Without sacrificing ergonomic function, the bag’s design is adapted in every way so that it might be manufactured at as low a price as possible and sold to those groups with the weakest purchasing power in the world
- Most toilets are part of larger infrastructural systems and dependent on complex investments; the Peepoo bag is an inexpensive solution
- Peepoo can be simply distributed and can therefore meet the enormous demand in a highly efficient manner
- There is potential for the fertiliser to create revenue or save revenues as a result of reduced need for alternative fertilizers
Environmental Impact:
- It is made from biodegradable material and is therefore safe for burial underground
- It does not harm the environment and the contents fertilise the earth
Links:
www.peepoople.com