peepoo bag

The PeePoo bag is a biodegradable, self-sanitizing, single-use bag to be used as a receptacle for - you guessed it - pee & poo - for the 2.6 billion people living in the world who don't have access to proper toilet and sanitation facilities, and as a result are at high risk of becoming infected with life-threatening diseases.

When my roommate forwarded me a link from Design Observer on the PeePoo bag, I had 2 immediate, but conflicting thoughts:

1. This is a great temporary solution
2. The title and the concept seem a bit degrading

After reading a lot of the very heated commentary from readers of the blog, I am still conflicted about the overall approach and have some unanswered questions/thoughts that are really ever-present when I look at product design of this nature.

Function. The peepoo bag is a great temporary solution. It sounds potentially degrading, but if it's complemented with real strategies to improve sanitation and water access problems in the long-run, then the product isn't just a product - it's a symbol of a greater campaign, and a temporary fix that if implemented properly will save lives.

Timeframe. How long should "temporary" be? Can "temporary" products become a crutch that impedes progress towards finding more sustainable solutions?

Branding. I thought about branding in product design recently at a lecture on Project H Design given by founder Emily Pilloton at Columbia College. Project H worked on the redesign of the hippo roller, a water carrier concept originally developed by engineers Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker that aims to increase water access for populations in rural South Africa by allowing them to carry significantly larger loads of water than did their previous method of carrying filled buckets on their heads.

When Project H did the redesign of the hippo roller (including a few functional improvements), they didn't want to fundamentally alter the actual look of the product, because it had become recognizable in the community and having one had become a source of pride. So, is this a culturally-, and community-sensitive approach, or does it feed into a certain sense of possession and accumulation that seems to be inseparable from product design...or both? Can branding be a positive way to proliferate ideas, concepts and innovative products, or does it always take advantage of our desire to accumulate?