Innovative Solution

Self-sanitising, single-use toilet, disease prevention, hygienic sanitation, biodegradable, fertiliser, slum, sanitation, emergency response

technical

Compact in size and weighing just 10 grams, Peepoo is a completely portable toilet that’s easy to transport, distribute, carry, handle and use – with the potential to save lives on a massive scale by helping prevent the spread of disease at the source.

Because Peepoo does not require scarce water resources, it cuts the traditional link between sanitation and water.

Peepoo’s two-layer design ensures that the bacteria in human excreta do not come into contact with skin because the inner, wider tube helps to keep hands clean when holding or closing it after use by tying the top into a simple knot. Once closed, Peepoo remains odour-free for at least 12-24 hours after use.

Designed to be used just once, Peepoo is in the form of a slim, elongated bag made of a high-performance, completely degradable bio-plastic – a mixture of aromatic co-polyesters and polylactic acid (PLA) with small additives of wax and lime – which meets EU standard EN 13432l. As the bio-plastic disintegrates, its molecules are broken down into carbon dioxide, water and bio-mass. Inside the bag, for ease of use, a thin layer of green gauze unfolds to form a wide funnel when Peepoo is opened.

Peepoo also contains urea – the most common fertiliser in the world. When urea comes into contact with faeces or urine, an enzymatic breakdown into ammonia and carbonate takes place, driven by enzymes which naturally occur in faeces. As a result of this hygienisation process, bacteria found in faeces that can spread water-borne diseases such as cholera can be rendered inactive in a matter of days, depending on the surrounding environment and temperature.

After hygienisation, Peepoo offers safe, valuable nutrients for rural and urban farming. When mixed in soil, used Peepoos increase the soil’s organic matter content and improve its water-holding capacity. Because fertilisers are expensive and scarce in less developed countries, economic systems can develop around the collection and distribution of used Peepoos.

Office location:

Headquarters – Peepoople AB, Stockholm, Sweden
Peepoople Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya

Field experiences:

In urban slums:
Kenya: Kibera in Nairobi, tropical climate, 2010 – ongoing
South Africa: Durban, warm sub-tropical climate, 2011
Bangladesh: Mymensingh, high humidity prone to monsoon floods, 2009
India: Bihar, flood-prone area, 2008

In emergencies:
Oxfam GB: IDP camp in Port au Prince on Haiti after earthquake, April-May 2010
New Zealand: Earthquake in Christchurch, April 2011
UN Habitat Pakistan: Hyderabad, Sindh floods, October 2011
IRC Haiti: IDP camp in Port au Prince on Haiti, Nov-Dec 2011

With the mission of providing easy access to hygienic sanitation to all people, Peepoople was established in 2006 by Ashoka-fellow Professor Anders Wilhelmson in Stockholm, Sweden. From 2006-2008 Peepoo was developed in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm and industrial partners with specialized competences.

In October 2010, Peepoople launched the Peepoo solution in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, in its first large-scale initial launch project (ILP) for urban slums. Current partners include Vinnova, DemoEnvironment, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Simavi, Aqua for All, Umande Trust and various CBOs.

Peepoople’s current production partners are BASF, Plastiroll  OY, Bicma and Ecotech. BASF supplies the biodegradable plastic. Plastiroll blends, extrudes and processes the film. The contract for the first high-speed Peepoo machine was signed with Bicma Hygiene Technology GmbH.

In 2008, a first batch of 30,000 Peepoos was semi-manually produced and in 2008-2009 the solution was successfully field-tested in urban slums in Kenya and Bangladesh in cooperation with GTZ. In April 2010, Peepoo was field-tested by Oxfam in an IDP-camp on Haiti.

In October 2010, Peepoople launched the Peepoo solution in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, in its first large-scale initial launch project (ILP) for urban slums. This ILP will include about 20,000 users during 2010-2013.

In November 2011, a Peepoo Try was successfully tested in the Sindh province in Pakistan.

Also in 2011, Peepoople finalized a contract for the design, manufacture and delivery of the first fully-automated, high-speed Peepoo production line. This is vital to help solve the global sanitation crisis in disaster areas as well as urban slums.

When the Peepoo production line becomes fully operational in November 2012, Peepoople will have a supply capacity of up to 500,000 Peepoos per day.

The UN Millennium Development Goal #7, target 10 was established in 2002 with the aim of reducing – by half – the number of people without sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation by 2015.

At the current rate of progress using traditional sanitation methods, this goal is far from being realised. One factor is the rapid increase in the number of people living in slums or slum-like conditions – with populations estimated to increase from nearly 715 million in 1970 to 1.4 billion by 2020.

Another factor is with 2015 approaching closer by the day, it’s obvious that the approach to the problem needs to change or the goal will not be met. Sanitation specialists have stated, “In order to accelerate sanitation coverage, we have to start rethinking sanitation.”

Peepoo moves away from hard, fixed structures to a soft approach to sanitation and excreta management. Independent of fixed infrastructures, it’s easy to implement and cuts the traditional link between sanitation and water.

Ergonomically designed using the minimum amount of material necessary to provide maximum hygienic sanitation, Peepoo is extremely cost-efficient to produce. Because Peepoo is affordable for those with the weakest purchasing power, it offers a sanitation choice that benefits both the individual and society as a whole.

Whenever and wherever it’s needed, Peepoo can easily be used – without waiting for public or political action. Always available, always sanitary and unused by anyone else, Peepoo allows each individual person total privacy.

Peepoo can function as an everyday toilet, a complementary one at night, at work or in school. Because of its low cost, Peepoo can be used regularly at home or only when needed.

After use, Peepoo offers value as fertiliser, which enables collection and disposal systems to arise – formally or informally, privately or publicly, small scale or large scale. These systems can evolve over time, slowly or quickly, according to local circumstances.

In urban slums, different business models have been tested and evaluated throughout the Peepoo value chain of production through reuse in the village of Silanga. In spring 2009, a field test organized and financed by GTZ Bangladesh and GTZ Ecosan was also carried out in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. A Peepoo field-test was also conducted in two townships in Durban, South Africa, managed by Oxfam Novib, financed by SCA.

Following these initial field tests, the ILP Nairobi is proving the willingness-to-pay for the Peepoo solution, the value of Peepoo fertiliser and the economic sustainability of the micro-businesses in the value chain.

For use in emergencies, Oxfam conducted a field test in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in April-May 2010. In November 2011, UN Habitat Pakistan tested the Peepoo Try. Positive user acceptance is validating Peepoo for use in emergency response situations. The above processes and activities will continue to be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

For use in emergencies, Peepoople has developed a Humanitarian Response Model for aid agencies comprised of both Hardware and Software components to reach out to 50,000 people with in-home sanitation and hygiene promotion within 30 days. Several modules can be deployed in parallel to reach larger populations.

Hardware and Software components include Peepoos as well as implementation and education support to deliver in-home sanitation on very short notice – on a massive scale. It includes protocols and staffing for the coordination needed to effectively implement the Peepoo solution in combination with already established routines for Hygiene Promotion.

In urban slums such as Silanga in Kibera, Kenya, both the distribution chain and the collection management of used Peepoos are performed by women entrepreneurs.

These small businesses act as “micro franchises” with pan-franchise functions such as quality assurance, training, branding, marketing and advertising, delivered by Peepoople Kenya. Provision of inputs are either free or sold, with credit, by Peepoople. Start-up capital is provided where needed, initially by Peepoople Kenya and later by microfinance partners.

The continued growth and success of this business system in Kenya will serve as a model for other urban slums and “bottom of the economic pyramid” communities and settlements throughout the world.

In schools, Peepoos are distributed for free to the children, initially financed by grants and donations. The value of the increased yield from the school gardens where fertilizer from used Peepoos is utilised has the potential to finance the Peepoo sanitation solution making the system self-sustainable.

Both teachers and students are being educated in hygiene and health promotion, including hand washing, as well as the ecological sanitation concept and agriculture. After six months in Kenya, this distribution model is already proving successful in more than a dozen schools.

From a product standpoint, based on feedback from users as well as aid agencies and relief organisations, several Peepoo design improvements will be implemented in the high-speed production in 2012.

The green inner gauze will be widened from 52 to 58 cm. This is already implemented in the current semi-manual production process. The urea will be applied in a pouch in the bottom of the Peepoo, removing the need for a soft-seal to keep the urea in place, and making it more intuitive and effortless to use.

The seal between the outer bag and the inner gauze will be tight, eliminating the risk of “leakage” between the layers. The inner gauze will be cut to shape eliminating excess material in the funnel and thereby reducing the risk of faeces getting stuck. Packaging in Peepoo Personal Packs will increase the guaranteed shelf life to two years.

As a product, Peepoo is first and foremost a single-use, self-sanitising personal toilet. Above and beyond this, the distribution of Peepoos wide-scale offers the potential for becoming a sanitation solution that can create and support local economic systems. The ways that business models and distribution processes should be set up to ensure sustainable success is researched and evaluated for all target audiences on a daily basis.

When Peepoo is both sold and purchased by people in “bottom of the economic pyramid communities”, acceptable pricing levels have been researched and flexible payment structures tested. This has been necessary to establish Peepoo as a sustainable sanitation solution in communities that lack the resources to support the building and maintenance of large fixed sanitation facilities.

As a result of evaluating best business practices in projects for urban slums, Peepoople has learned how vitally important it is to have support from, and cooperation with, local elders and community leaders, opinion-makers, women’s groups and youth groups.

For each of these groups, training has proven to be imperative for success; first of all, for the correct usage of Peepoo, and following this, for the correct collection and disposal methods. Because this is a new product, the presence of Peepoople-trained personnel needs to be in place during the first implementation in urban slums as well as emergencies.

From all field tests conducted in urban slums as well as areas affected by natural disasters and political conflicts, Peepoo has been positively received and user acceptance is very high. The results of Peepoo usage by people in both “Wiper” and “Washer” cultures has demonstrated that easy access to basic hygienic sanitation directly corresponds to disease prevention, helping to ensure the health and safety of women and children, improving school attendance, and to maintaining the security of clean water and food supplies.

Peepoople has become an approved supplier to Oxfam GB and Peepoo is now included in their emergency solutions catalogue. A first order from Oxfam GB has been shipped from the semi-manual production of Peepoos in Nairobi. Peepoos have also been delivered to IRC on Haiti.

ACF France is currently evaluating Peepoo for emergency response with the aim to secure response capacity to provide sanitation for 12,000 people during a 2-month period.

UN Habitat Pakistan is considering Peepoo as an emergency response sanitation solution for floods in Pakistan. This follows a trial conducted during November 2011. Discussions are underway to secure a response capacity for at least 50,000 people for 3+3 months.

Åsa Angelino, Sales & Customer Relations Director
Mobile: +46-733-358468
E-mail: asa.angelino@peepoople.com
Skype: asaangel

www.peepoople.com

Sales of Peepoos in the Kibera launch project in Nairobi (ILP Nairobi) is taking off and has reached initial critical momentum. Six Peepoople sales women are now selling Peepoos in Kibera and the Peepoo system is implemented in more than a dozen schools. In total, Peepoople Kenya has 25 employees, mostly residents from Kibera.

A small Peepoo trial responding to the Christchurch earthquake on New Zealand also provided encouraging results. Peepoo proved to be very positively received in a “first-world” society, and users considered it a preferred emergency sanitation solution over other options.