Design+Proposal

For our design, we chose to base it on a common problem that third world countries are facing; sanitation. A lot of people don’t have proper access to a bathroom or even own one so they have no choice but to “do their business” outside which can be a problem because it contaminates the water and the space they live in. Basic needs such as food, shelter, etc are hard enough for people in these situations to afford and the last thing they need is to make it even harder for them. This creates a lot of issues and eventually leads to a chain reaction. If the water gets contaminated then this affects the food like fish, crops, etc which in turn also causes the people to get all sorts of diseases which can result in death such as dysentery, cholera, typhus fever, typhoid, schistosomiasis and trachoma. (Barry Mason, 2002)

Approximately two and a half billion people in the world have no access to improved sanitation including 1.2 billion people who have no facilities at all and are forced to open defecation (UNICEF: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, 2010) In third world countries sanitation coverage is really low compared to everywhere else such as South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa where only 2/3 of the people have no access to improved sanitation (UNICEF: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, 2010) By 2025 the number of people affected from sanitation is expected to rise from 40% of the world’s population to 50% (Barry Mason, 2002) The target for our problem is the countries in the third world such as Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, etc where sanitation is really poor and their basic needs is really scarce. By helping them with this problem, we can stop the water from being contaminated and causing diseases to that can be very harmful since health care is poor as well in these parts of the world.

So we decided to make some sort of bag for people so they can “poop” in, instead of doing outside and contaminating the waters. Our design is similar to the PeePoo one except with a few modifications.

For our design, we made a list of things to pick from. We’ll be able to make the final decision on how to make it and what materials to use when we research more on the factors that should be taken into consideration. We decided to make it so that you could have like a couple of them on the street for multiple people at the same time. Here are some of the things to make the design;

- strings attached on the side to tie it on the side of something so the bag doesn’t fall (or something similar to hold it up so you don’t have to use your hands)

- bag (obviously; material need that will not tear)

- separate compartment to urinate in

- biodegradable toilet paper on the side

- solar panel up on top to break it down

Works Cited: 1) Johnson, Shannon. "Peepoo Bags- Sanitation Solution for Third World Countries" [|Date: July 7, 2010 (Web.) Date accessed: February 23, 2011

2) Mason, Barry. "Report shows impact of poor sanitation on world’s health" [] Date: April 18, 2002 (Web.) Date accessed: February 25, 2011

3) "Unicef: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene" [] Updated: April 27, 2010 (Web.) Date accessed: February 25, 2011