Advertisement

Out in 90 seconds: female urinals will halve peeing time for women, says Hong Kong Toilet Association

  • The group says urinals, rather than new cubicles, are the answer to cutting the perennially long queues outside women’s washrooms
  • However, it says there’s a lack of interest by designers to conduct a pilot test of the proposal

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
A user shows the female urinal. Photo: KY Cheng
An industry group on Thursday called for female urinals to be built in Hong Kong’s public toilets to help the city combat the long waiting times faced by women to access a loo.

According to the Hong Kong Toilet Association, such facilities would cut peeing time to just 1.5 minutes, compared with the usual two to three minutes, and thus help to shorten queues outside women’s washrooms.

Urinals would also take up only half the space of a full cubicle, said the group, adding that the facilities could include disposable paper urine funnels to help women aim accurately, and a shelf above for bags to be stored.

“It is much more feasible to install additional female urinals than to build new cubicles, especially in smaller and older public toilets,” said the group’s vice-president Henry Hung Chi-kuen, who has a 40-year career in plumbing engineering.

However, Hung said there was a lack of interest by universities to design such a facility, and the group was also struggling to find organisations, such as event organisers, willing to conduct a pilot test of female urinals in the city.

In Germany and France, female urinals are available in temporary lavatories at events such as music festivals, but not in permanent facilities, the association said.

Advertisement