Paris introduces sidewalk urinals

Rapefugees won’t stop peeing on historic Parisian streets. The city’s solution: Open sidewalk urinals.

Parisian leaders are trying to tackle a problem that is evident to anyone who’s ever tried to catch a glimpse of a historic site in a historic city and instead caught a foul-smelling whiff of stale urine.

Meet the uritrottoir, a portmanteau of the French words for “urinal” and “sidewalk.” It is a bright red, free-standing dry urinal that’s meant to give people — well, some people — a place to go other than a cobblestone street or scenic bridge. The uritrottoirs are filled with straw, allegedly odorless, and use the nitrogen and other compounds in urine to produce an organic compost.

But disgusted people who live in the city’s northern neighborhoods have pointed out one big negative to the trial run of the device: The uritrottoirs’ design doesn’t prevent the rest of Paris — including some people cruising along on tourist barges — from seeing someone relieving himself.

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On the other hand, flowers grow out of the top.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/08/14/people-wont-stop-peeing-historic-parisian-streets-citys-solution-open-sidewalk-urinals/?utm_term=.c7a2b048ad0f

 

h/t Boaty

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