The average person uses 1.6 meters of toilet paper per visit to a public convenience, a study has shown.
The figure was calculated following a six-month research project conducted by the operator of such a facility on Yan'an Road in Jing'an District, the Shanghai Morning Post reported yesterday.
During the study period, users were provided with free toilet paper as part of a trial commissioned by the district government. If successful, the authorities planned to roll out the scheme to more facilities. However, that might never happen, said Zeng Xiangrong, manager of Shanghai Yuemin Cleaning and Sanitary Service Co, which is responsible for the toilet block used in the trial.
"The free toilet paper was placed inside each cubicle, but people overused it, and some even stole the whole roll," she said.
The situation improved — not surprisingly — when the paper was removed from the cubicles and locked away, so that people had to ask for it, Zeng said.
"People used it for everything," an unnamed cleaner said.
"Some used it to dry their hands, others to clean their shoes. One man even used toilet paper to remove a stain from his trousers," she said.
According to the Jing'an branch of the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau, 1.6 meters of toilet paper costs 0.084 yuan.
The district has 39 public conveniences, each of which gets about 24,000 visitors a day. To provide free toilet paper to all of them would cost the government 700,000 yuan (US$113,000) a year.
Based on the results of trials carried out in Jing'an and other districts, the Shanghai Public Sanitation and Environment Quality Monitoring Center is now considering the feasibility of making free toilet paper available in all of the city's 2,600 public toilets.
