Toilets are the largest water
expense in homes, accounting for about 30% of water consumption, according to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "In offices and commercial
buildings it can be up to 80%. A single person flushes the toilet more than
1,500 times in a year, wasting an average of 40 liters a day," stresses
young Brazilian entrepreneur Ariane Pelicioli (32 years old). At the same time,
46% of the world's population will not have access to safely managed sanitation
services by 2020, according to the United Nations. One of the Sustainable
Development Goals set by this organization for 2030 is to achieve universal
access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and to significantly increase the
efficient use of water resources in all sectors.
Faced with this water waste in a
world threatened by a climate crisis that increases water scarcity, Pelicioli
(a graduate in Psychology from the University of Caxias do Sul) decided to take
action. The young woman explains: "The toilet has been the same for more
than two centuries. Even with the creation of the two-button toilet, we still
use and waste too much water. When we invented the toilet, water scarcity was
not a problem. Today the world has shifted to a new reality."
To address this problem, Pelicioli
has co-developed through her start-up, Piipee, a biodegradable substance with
nanotechnology that eliminates the need to flush every time we urinate. This
technological breakthrough to save water and protect the environment has made
her one of the Innovators under 35 Latin America 2023 chosen by MIT Technology
Review in Spanish.
Her initiative consists of a spray
that with a single use replaces a water flush and a device that attaches to any
type of toilet without any reform. To eliminate urine, instead of ten liters of
water, one milliliter of a liquid with natural extracts and biodegradable
components enhanced by nanotechnology is used. It also perfumes and cleans the
toilet, and saves both water and money, says its creator.
Piipee has more than 4,000
customers, both in private households and in large multinationals. So far it
reaches more than 200,000 people daily and in one year has saved its customers
more than 65 million liters of water. Now Pelicioli wants to expand Piipee's
presence in European and Latin American markets to revolutionize how we go to
the bathroom every day, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
