New eco-friendly urinals to ‘civilize street peeing’ enter service in Paris

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Two brand new “eco-friendly” urinals combined with flower pots have been installed in Paris, and are being described as the first step to achieve the ultimate goal of civilizing French street urinating, the creators of the device claim.

The two street urinals were installed on Tuesday near the Gare de Lyon train yard. Street peeing is a serious problem which has apparently plagued the capital of France for decades. Gare du Lyon is one of the city’s wet-spots, where people are forced to evade treacherous puddles of pee, lurking in the darkest corners.

“People urinating on the streets of France is a serious problem,” one of the inventors told The Local. The device known as "Uritrottoir” is an elaborate mix of an urinal and a flowerpot, designed by the Faltazi company based in Nantes. The urinal is made of a sturdy material, coated with an anti-graffiti paint and boasts a mini-parterre on top.

“And we knew there was a big demand for a solution, so we’ve come up with one. People are laughing, many of them are amazed, but most agree that it’s a good idea to test out,” the inventor said.

Uritrottoir has a much more attractive look than the common grey Paris street urinals, providing relief to “pipi sauvage” (“wild pissing” in French). The new eco-friendly device stores the urine in a block of dry material, namely wood chips, sawdust or straws, which is later taken away and turned into compost.

Recyclable absorbing material ensures the new urinal to be odor-free, according to the inventors.

The price of this eco-urinal is estimated at €3,000. The first two devices are out in the streets and ready to be stress-tested. Time will show whether the new-age urinals could completely replace their old, grey and overflow-prone counterparts.