Design in Africa

Sep 12

design for slums

Lagos will be home to 23 million people by 2015. Challenges for people living in these mega-slums include poor infrastructure, inadequate housing, overcrowding and sanitation. Soon after viewing the clip, I came across this; some clever Swedish designers came up with a possible solution; the Peepoo bag is a disposable single use toilet, that is of course biodegradable.

Based on ‘flying toilets’ which is a term coined from Kibera, Nairobi. ‘It means that one uses a normal plastic bag as a toilet, which after use, is thrown outside the home into the street or on a pile. The name flying toilet indicates that it is thrown as far as possible.’

The Peepoo bag is a more elegant solution, and Peepoople hopes that the bags will be collected and used as fertiliser. Oh, yes, it is odor free too for up to 24 hours.

I hope that sustainable economic benefits evolve for distributing and collecting the bags, which will add value and communicate clear benefits to the people who purchase them.



Click here to download:
peepoo (10 KB)

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