Portable toilets: they occupy an important, but too often under recognised role in our society. Normally, portable toilets just fade into the background, whether they’re on a job site or at a music festival. But portable toilets have been around for a while. They began in a fascinating fashion as well: they were created in the early 20th century to reduce the time spent by dock workers, going to the toilet.
A lot has changed since then, and portable toilets have become an undeniable fixture of the world around us. So in celebration of this, we have put together a list of some of our favourite weird and wonderful portable toilet facts. Enjoy!
Preserving the environment with portable toilets – they use up to 90% less water than other toilets!
Depending on where you are, water consumption can be a pretty big issue. We have ourselves experienced the dry grip of drought – and we know that it leaves a lot to be desired. One big and very necessary water consumer is the toilet – there’s no avoiding it. And you might think portable toilets are the same. But that’s not the case. Portable toilets actually use as little as 10% of the water than a conventional toilet consumes. It makes you wonder what regular toilets need it all for!
Politics and portable toilets: there were 5,000 portable toilets at Obama’s inauguration
Over in the States, presidential inaugurations seem to be pretty controversial affairs. A particular source of controversy is the number of attendees. But we think there’s a far more pressing issue to be uncovered: the number of portable toilets! And the numbers might shock you. At former President Barack Obama’s inauguration, the American government organised for 5,000 portable toilets to be put in place. Needless to say, everyone was pretty well covered in the plumbing department.
Preserving the wrong kind of specimen: portable toilets used to use formaldehyde
You’ve probably encountered formaldehyde before, but hopefully not too closely! Formaldehyde is the fluid that was previously used to embalm corpses, and is currently used by scientists to preserve natural specimens. If you’ve ever seen small animals stuffed in jars at the museum, chances are that was formaldehyde. But it’s also a carcinogen, which means it causes cancer. So you’ll be pleased to know that the practice of using formaldehyde in portable toilets ended long ago. Sure, it was pretty good at killing bacteria and masking odours. But we like to think our modern systems are a little more environmentally friendly!
According to some research, the first in a line of portable toilets is the least used
Humans have grappled with some pretty big questions over the years. And one of the biggest is which public toilet to use. If you are entering day three of an outdoor music festival and it’s time to hit the loo, you are going to want to one that is least used. We would go so far as to say you will need the one that is least used. So do you go to the one at the end of the row? Or maybe the middle? You would be forgiven for thinking that, because the evidence seems to suggest everyone thinks the same way. And that means the first toilet in the row is normally the least used. At least until people realise that’s the case!
Portable toilets have come a long way, from timber boxes at a shipyard, to luxury events models
From their first appearance as little wooden boxes in the shipyards, portable toilets have never stopped innovating. And today, they have almost one hundred years of portable toilet technology behind them. That means they are basically unlimited in their designs. One that has caught our eye is the luxury portable toilet. Luxury portable toilets have truly thrown off the rugged nature of their heritage, with marble bench tops, tiled floors, and beautiful fittings. We are yet to encounter them in person, but they’re out there and hope springs eternal!
For all your portable toilet needs, get in touch with Dinkum Dunnies today on (07) 5495 5733.