Controversial Open-Air Urinals Installed to Tackle Public Urination in Paris Spark Outrage

Photo: THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/GettyOfficials in Paris are setting up open-air (completely unhidden) urinals across the city in an attempt to combat public urination — and the locals aren’t too happy.Locals and tourists taking a stroll near the Notre-Dame cathedral or a popular waterway will see a bright red receptacle perched on a walkway. With wheat and other plants protruding from the box, many might mistake the tank as a simple planter. But it’s actually an eco-friendly urinal — or “uritrottoirs” — meant to quell public peeing, according to astatement from city officials.Uritrottoirs, set up in “heavily congested areas where there are many urine spills,” are part of an effort to clean up the city, and the odor-free boxes are filled with straw.THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty“The uritrottoir, an intelligent pissotiere, makes it possible to compost and grow flowers,” officials said in the statement. “Unlike a classic urinal type ‘shells,’ urine is valued through a first filtering with straw, limiting unpleasant odors.”A sign above the box features an illustration of a man urinating into the box. Four have been installed so far, with a fifth one on the way,CNNreports.The urinals aren’t hidden, or tucked in private places. Instead, they are placed in public view, with some even perched near popular tourist sites. With that, some residents aren’t too fond of the new receptacles.“There’s no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such an historic spot,” Paola Pellizzari, the 68-year-old owner of a Venetian art store, toldReuters. “It’s beside the most beautiful townhouse on the island, the Hotel de Lauzun, where [French poet Charles] Baudelaire lived.”The company behind the uritrottoir, said it is an “eco solution to public peeing.” Still, a 50-year-old art gallery owner called the initiative “horrible.”“We’re told we have to accept this but this is absolutely unacceptable,” the unnamed critic said. “It’s destroying the legacy of the island. Can’t people behave?”

Photo: THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty

Officials in Paris are setting up open-air (completely unhidden) urinals across the city in an attempt to combat public urination — and the locals aren’t too happy.Locals and tourists taking a stroll near the Notre-Dame cathedral or a popular waterway will see a bright red receptacle perched on a walkway. With wheat and other plants protruding from the box, many might mistake the tank as a simple planter. But it’s actually an eco-friendly urinal — or “uritrottoirs” — meant to quell public peeing, according to astatement from city officials.Uritrottoirs, set up in “heavily congested areas where there are many urine spills,” are part of an effort to clean up the city, and the odor-free boxes are filled with straw.THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty“The uritrottoir, an intelligent pissotiere, makes it possible to compost and grow flowers,” officials said in the statement. “Unlike a classic urinal type ‘shells,’ urine is valued through a first filtering with straw, limiting unpleasant odors.”A sign above the box features an illustration of a man urinating into the box. Four have been installed so far, with a fifth one on the way,CNNreports.The urinals aren’t hidden, or tucked in private places. Instead, they are placed in public view, with some even perched near popular tourist sites. With that, some residents aren’t too fond of the new receptacles.“There’s no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such an historic spot,” Paola Pellizzari, the 68-year-old owner of a Venetian art store, toldReuters. “It’s beside the most beautiful townhouse on the island, the Hotel de Lauzun, where [French poet Charles] Baudelaire lived.”The company behind the uritrottoir, said it is an “eco solution to public peeing.” Still, a 50-year-old art gallery owner called the initiative “horrible.”“We’re told we have to accept this but this is absolutely unacceptable,” the unnamed critic said. “It’s destroying the legacy of the island. Can’t people behave?”

Officials in Paris are setting up open-air (completely unhidden) urinals across the city in an attempt to combat public urination — and the locals aren’t too happy.

Locals and tourists taking a stroll near the Notre-Dame cathedral or a popular waterway will see a bright red receptacle perched on a walkway. With wheat and other plants protruding from the box, many might mistake the tank as a simple planter. But it’s actually an eco-friendly urinal — or “uritrottoirs” — meant to quell public peeing, according to astatement from city officials.

Uritrottoirs, set up in “heavily congested areas where there are many urine spills,” are part of an effort to clean up the city, and the odor-free boxes are filled with straw.

THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty

“The uritrottoir, an intelligent pissotiere, makes it possible to compost and grow flowers,” officials said in the statement. “Unlike a classic urinal type ‘shells,’ urine is valued through a first filtering with straw, limiting unpleasant odors.”

A sign above the box features an illustration of a man urinating into the box. Four have been installed so far, with a fifth one on the way,CNNreports.

The urinals aren’t hidden, or tucked in private places. Instead, they are placed in public view, with some even perched near popular tourist sites. With that, some residents aren’t too fond of the new receptacles.

“There’s no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such an historic spot,” Paola Pellizzari, the 68-year-old owner of a Venetian art store, toldReuters. “It’s beside the most beautiful townhouse on the island, the Hotel de Lauzun, where [French poet Charles] Baudelaire lived.”

The company behind the uritrottoir, said it is an “eco solution to public peeing.” Still, a 50-year-old art gallery owner called the initiative “horrible.”

“We’re told we have to accept this but this is absolutely unacceptable,” the unnamed critic said. “It’s destroying the legacy of the island. Can’t people behave?”

source: people.com