If you’re a woman, you’ve been there. Most women waste hours standing in line waiting to use the restroom at crowded venues. From music festivals and sporting events to amusement parks, women spend a lot of time waiting for relief. It’s annoying, uncomfortable and one of the most frustratingly universal female experiences. But two U.K. entrepreneurs are trying to change all of that.
“Who hasn’t had to stand in a queue while watching men whiz in and out of the urinals? I think it’s a worldwide problem that everyone can relate to. It’s not just something that I see but everybody sees, so it is an obvious problem that hasn’t got an obvious solution,” says Amber Probyn, co-founder with Hazel McShane of Peequal, a startup company that has developed and is renting out female urinal units for festivals.
Started as a college project, the modular squat-and-go urinal is a first in the U.K., according to the women.
“We were tasked with solving a real-world problem,” Probyn says. “We were wasting loads of time standing in toilet queues at festivals where we would have to choose between going to the loo or getting food.”
OPEN-AIR DESIGN
Peequal is a semi-squat urinal. It’s marketed as “quick, safe and sustainable.” The design removes what Probyn calls micro time-wasters common to traditional portable restrooms, like opening, closing and locking doors, and cleaning or covering seats with toilet paper. This lack of touch points also creates a more sanitary environment. The open-air design promotes airflow and ventilation. Hand sanitizer is provided for washing.
Peequal is a series of individual stalls that utilize a design that allows people to maintain privacy during use. However, because there’s no door it removes the temptation for people to waste time doing other things in the urinal like scrolling through their phones.
“You have a designated space where you can just pop a squat, it’s really simple. Have a wee just like in the woods if you were going on a wild nature walk,” Probyn says. “Nothing magical about it, it’s just as we would normally go.”
Peequal is packed as a series of flat-pack plastic panels that are fitted in slots over six wedge-shaped urinals that create a circular unit. The tanks hold about 185-gallons of waste holding tank that acts as the base of the unit. Each unit has six squat urinals built into the base. The design allows six or more urinals to fit on a typical delivery truck in the U.K.
Two workers can set up each Peequal wedge in a few minutes. Teardown can be finished by a single worker. So far Peequal typically sets up 60 to 180 units and accent décor for a festival, and staff use power-washers to clean the units after the final event service.
PASSED TOUGH TESTS
Rolled out in 2022, the Peequal was tested at six events, including the well-known Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, Somerset, England, which draws more than 200,000 people. According to Probyn, use of Peequal stations has proven to reduce the overall lines for traditional restrooms at crowded festivals. Probyn described the response from women who used Peequal as “amazing.”
“Women absolutely loved it,” she says. “They would come out of the urinal saying, ‘This is a game-changer, this is liberating.’ Those are the most common words used. So, it’s pretty amazing to hear that we are making a difference.”
Perhaps equally as important as their promise to help women is the company’s commitment to the environment. Sustainability is one of the company’s core values. Peequal is built using a rotomolding process with plastics recycled from marine debris mixed with sugar cane biopolymer.
“We are looking at repurposing waste products so we can grind them down in the future to build more,” Probyn says.
Probyn is excited about the future of Peequal. She says in her experience most women figure it out immediately. “As soon as you’ve gone once you know exactly what to do,” Probyn claims. “We see friends bringing friends in and telling them how to use it.”
Footprint graphics on the unit indicate where to place feet to properly squat above the oval-shaped opening in the urinal. Toilet paper has not been provided to this point, though women can bring their own and discard the paper in a provided trash bin.
The product isn’t perfect for everyone, but the founders recognize that. Peequal isn’t disability-friendly. Because people need to squat to use it, it can be tough for the elderly or people with knee or other physical issues that make squatting more difficult. It also doesn’t have a ramp. However, if more women use Peequal instead of waiting in line for more permanent bathrooms or portable restrooms at events, lines for traditional restrooms will be shorter.
“Even if it’s not for you, it might solve your problem,” Probyn says.
COMING TO AMERICA
The founders plan to address the accessibility issues in the future. They also plan to expand internationally. They’re already in talks about moving to the U.S. and Australia. They believe they’re a perfect fit for large outdoor events like music festivals. However, international expansion is probably a couple of years out. Their first move is to expand within the U.K. throughout 2023.
Peequal was a finalist in the Plastics Industry Awards 2022, which is focused on the U.K. and Ireland, in the best recycled plastic product category. While this type of recognition means a lot to the company’s founders, there’s only one group’s praise that they truly value.
“Each time a woman comes out of the urinal, it’s met with praise of some sort,” Probyn says. “The highest praise is from women who are done waiting, waiting in line and waiting for someone to value their time.”
To learn more about Peequal, see a video podcast with Amber Probyn at www.promonthly.com.
