PeePoo: It’s in the Bag?

Save a life. Give a PeePoo bag

Go to peepoople.com and you won’t find a joke. Trust me, I kept looking. There are no people pooing, or poople peeing, or a sketch comedy troupe of bathroom humorists. Actually, the site has a different goal in mind, and that is to save the world.

We’ve thrown this number out before – 2.6 billion people in the world don’t have access to proper wastewater management systems. Either their toilets don’t flush or they don’t have access to toilets. And as PeePoople so eloquently illustrates, many of these people are from third world countries in which waste management generally means shitting in a river and watching it float downstream.

More so than the Neorest, the makers of this poop-related contraption take themselves too seriously. It is a biodegradable bag in which one pees and poops. Obviously the creators knew this to be true when they named their invention, and I’m sure once they started marketing it they immediately regretted copyrighting the name “PeePoople.” There’s something not quite right about a young African girl looking downtrodden and helpless, holding a bag she’s about to poop in with a Swedish-designed logo exclaiming exactly what that bag is for.

There’s something not quite right about their web content, too:

“The Peepoo bag is personal as in personal computer, it is mobile as in mobile phone and micro as in Microsoft.”

Apparently it is part of the new wave in technology. Oh, woops, it’s just a bag people shit in. Seriously, why all of this high-concept description? Philanthropists don’t need to be convinced that these countries need help. And I doubt the thought of an iPhone Poop Bag will draw any investors. Stick to the point – 2.6 billion people need a sanitary waste removal system. PeePoople is the answer (apparently).

But they try so hard! “The Peepoo bag offers a high degree of contemporary status.” What? ‘Yes, now that I shit in a bag, I’ve moved up in the world!’

My favorite part of the site is the “List of Triggers for Invetsting (sic) in a Toilet.” Number 19 is “being able to increase my tenant’s rent.” Reason number two to invest in a toilet is to “gain prestige from visitors.” Imagine a house guest coming over and asking to use the bathroom. They walk in and realize they must do their business in a bag. They are instantly impressed.

The main reason these bags are a viable solution to this crisis is unclear when you visit the site. You have to dig a bit to find that the inner lining of the PeePoo bag is coated with a thin film of “urea.” This non-hazardous chemical is a natural fertilizer, and it breaks down the enzymes in the feces or urine to inactivate the diseases within in a short amount of time (2-4 weeks, compared to 1-2 years).

So that’s why PeePoo bags are good! Not because of the fancy flash website or graphic printed on the bag, or the ‘contemporary status’ it gives its users, or the mobility and personal freedom it allows. It actually helps prevent the spread of waste-related diseases. And here I thought all of its Swedish creators were just IKEA rejects clinging onto fake luxury products.