PeePod

PeePod

https://youtu.be/_K3AKB8VQwY?si=rE-h3Hp46XyZHepv

I grew up camping on the northern California rivers among the water, trees, sky and fecund earth. A couple of years ago I found myself standing in one of these rivers weeping for my children and grandchildren. Having access to nature like this might not be available to them. I vowed to do something to help mitigate our climate catastrophe. When I got home I started researching trees and paper consumption.
Toilet paper is contributing to the demise of our world, whether it’s made from trees or bamboo. It’s manufacturing requires huge amounts of water and destructive chemicals to produce. It takes 37 gallons of water to make one roll of toilet paper. It’s the bane of sewers and septic systems. It’s harsh on our sensitive skin. It’s expensive. And it always causes a little anxiety when we run out!
Women use approximately 68% of all toilet paper just for peeing. Over 80,000 trees are cut every day just to service women when they pee. There are approximately 170 million women and girls in the US and they use 24 billion rolls of toilet paper every year for peeing.
The PeePod project was born out of this realization. The PeePod is meant to last decades. It’s manufactured out of stainless steel, a material that is completely recyclable. The organic bamboo cloths used for wiping are made with the Lyocell process which uses far fewer chemicals and much less water. The cloths last about 3 years with washings once a week. Simply use one cloth, put it into the water in the Pod, and when you run out just drain the water, toss the cloths into the wash, dry and stack back into the basket at the back. It’s an easy lifestyle change to use.
I have been using a version for 3 years as have several of my friends. We all love it! The potential is huge for adoption in both North America and South America. It also works well with bidets as a dry-off system. It’s estimated that it will pay for itself in 6-7 months and then last a lifetime.

For the Planet: We need our trees to stand! They are the life blood of our natural world. Newly planted trees cannot replace the carbon sinks lost by cutting down ancient trees. The trees are lost but so is the carbon rich soil, the habitat for declining species, the microbiotic soil components, the clean water that runs through the forests and the natural environment we cherish as our connection to the nature that we all are a part of.
For the People: The saving of our natural habitats all over the world is our heritage, our responsibility and our recognition that we ARE nature! Living expenses are out of control and so saving money along with saving the environment is not only important it’s imperative. The PeePod is designed to pay for itself in 6-7 months and then be cost free for about 3 years until a new batch of bamboo cloths will be needed, at a nominal fee. Women spend approximately &160. a year on Toilet paper just for peeing.
For Profit: In the move to create more sustainable consumer products the pace has slowed in recent months. Companies have created products that make a difference, but new products are needed and wanted by the public, especially ones that save money while doing good. As stated, there are about 170 million women and girls in the US alone. That’s a big market for new, innovative products that make women happy to be a part of the solution. There are many companies online that sell these products and the PeePod should fit right into that marketplace.

California, USA

2020 to currently, 2023

. #UnToiletpaper, #Circularity, #Savethetrees

www.https://PeePod.eco

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzieheumann/

In the western United States there is a rich Native American culture that is actually thriving in many areas. Here in California, as well as in Oregon and Washington states, tribes have been advocating for a greater influence in managing nature in native ways that have been tried and true over millenniums. Many of the tribes are contributing to the knowledge of forest management by training forest fighting teams in ancient management practices. There is a lot of media about this as we have been inundated with fires in recent years. Films, school education, newspaper articles and more have been in abundance for several years and are introducing these ideas to school children throughout these states. Nature as a part of us and nature as an asset we need to cherish is a growing understanding.

Can you even imagine what saving even a portion of 80,000 trees a day from being cut would mean for our air, our soil, our animal friends and our hearts! When a forest of trees is cut it isn’t just the trees that we lose. We lose the soil too. If the symbiosis of the trees and the soil is broken the loss of carbon, the nutrients, the fungal richness, the capacity of the soil to hold water and moisture and the stability of the land to withstand being washed away in floods is extinguished. The animals who called this habitat home are chased away or killed. They have increasingly less places to run to or fly to. This doesn’t even take into account the water usage to manufacture toilet paper, or the horrendous chemicals used in the process. These forever chemicals are being found in the orcas off Canada and in the salmon that they eat – that we eat. The Canadian Boreal Forest, where our toilet paper comes from, is the second largest forested habitat in the world next to the Amazon. Between the fires and the deforestation not only are we losing these attributes, but the forests make their own climates, and the destruction of the forests leads to less moisture and rain and more drought and fires. It’s all about protecting the biodiversity of our incredible natural treasures in our forests.

The future will be all about collaboration. As a company I intend to bring onboard women to claim a love and responsibility for helping mitigate the multiple crises we find ourselves in. The PeePod product will fit perfectly within the sustainability product categories that multiple catalogs, both online and print, have developed. With the growing influencer phenomena there is a ready opportunity to co-create with consumers the mentality of saving our futures. It’s been hard to find manufacturers in the US for parts of this product. I am watching the progress enthusiastically around the changing manufacturing world in the US. It’s my hope that the steel manufacturing sector will transform in the coming years to be much more sustainable. If I can play a part in that I am willing. I am also planning on licensing this product for branding by other labels. And it would be a dream to be able to partner with industries that are now participating in the destruction of the forests.