The Really Portable Potty

When ya gotta go, there’s only so long a girl can hold it in – and now the good news is: You don't have to.

A German woman has invented the first pocket (or should we say, purse?) port-a-potty – minus the nasty odors and the person before you whose aim wasn't brilliant.

The "Ladybag" is a green plastic leaf-shaped bag with absorbent polymers that turn urine into an odorless gel. (According to the company, this does not harm the environment.) The bag folds up to the size of a chocolate bar, has a wide pink opening, and can be used squatting, sitting or standing.

The gel can absorb a pint of liquid, but in a real emergency (too many diet Cokes on the road?) the bag itself can hold 2.2 pints.

"It can be used in cars, or to avoid dirty toilets or at open-air festivals when you don’t want to queue," inventor Eva Tinter told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine. "You can just nip round the back of the toilet and use this."

The Ladybag comes with helpful cartoon instructions – and the suggestion that it only be used once. (It is sold in a packages of three for about $16.) Tinter’s company KETS GmbH recommends it not be used while driving. The company has already sold 20,000 through pharmacists and the Internet since its launch last October.

"We've had orders from all over the world. Every glove compartment should have one," Tinter told Der Spiegel.

The Ladybag follows the company’s 2007 launch of the more masculine sounding 'Roadbag' for men. Sales for Roadbag now top 200,000 a year.

Let’s see if Ladybag gels…

Photo courtesy KETS.