When There is no Toilet- A refugee's guide to #2
Flying Toilets
In many places in the world there are no toilets that most people can access. People in those places often shit in plastic bags, tie them tightly shut and dispose of them by throwing them somewhere. These bags are called "flying toilets". It is the most basic solution born of desperation for dealing with this inevitable biological function in an urban setting.
Here in the U.S., bathroom use in public is commonly tied to customer status. You have to buy something from a business to be allowed to use their restroom. More and more businesses are choosing not to have a customer restroom at all. So, people who are unhoused, people who are on foot or riding bicycles, small children, elders and people with medical conditions or disabilities are severely disadvantaged in being in public.
Dogs, however are afforded the courtesy of necessity. As long as the dog's human companion cleans up the waste in a plastic bag that shuts securely enough to prevent odor escape and disposes of it in an outdoor garbage receptacle, no one minds.
Humans can and do take advantage of this courtesy extended to dogs. Any opaque bag, especially a dog waste bag makes an easy solution to the problem of where to go when there is no toilet. Apartment complex dumpsters are almost always unlocked.
Flying Toilets
In many places in the world there are no toilets that most people can access. People in those places often shit in plastic bags, tie them tightly shut and dispose of them by throwing them somewhere. These bags are called "flying toilets". It is the most basic solution born of desperation for dealing with this inevitable biological function in an urban setting.
Here in the U.S., bathroom use in public is commonly tied to customer status. You have to buy something from a business to be allowed to use their restroom. More and more businesses are choosing not to have a customer restroom at all. So, people who are unhoused, people who are on foot or riding bicycles, small children, elders and people with medical conditions or disabilities are severely disadvantaged in being in public.
Dogs, however are afforded the courtesy of necessity. As long as the dog's human companion cleans up the waste in a plastic bag that shuts securely enough to prevent odor escape and disposes of it in an outdoor garbage receptacle, no one minds.
Humans can and do take advantage of this courtesy extended to dogs. Any opaque bag, especially a dog waste bag makes an easy solution to the problem of where to go when there is no toilet. Apartment complex dumpsters are almost always unlocked.
