Riviera Reporter
Riviera Reporter
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE

Uritrottoir takes on the “wild peeing” plague

Two French inventors think they’ve come up with an environmentally-friendly solution to the stink and mess of “wild peeing”. And people are listening.

“People urinating on the streets of France is a serious problem,” says inventor Victor Massip. “And we knew there was a big demand for a solution, so we’ve come up with one.”

Massip and his business partner Laurent Lebot came up with the “Uritrottoir” (a mix of the French words for urinal and pavement), which they believe solves a problem so common in France that the French even have a term for it, pipi sauvage (or “wild peeing” in English).

UritrottoirThe Uritrottoir, preventing leaks. Photo: Faltazi

Basically, the new idea sees people urinating into the front of a cubic-shaped contraption similarly to how they’d use a urinal. The urine then collects together with hay in the lower half, which acts as a compost for the flowers growing above. The compost can later be removed for further use, and the hay can be replaced.

The box is coated with an anti-graffiti paint, and the carbon-rich straw not only makes for great compost, but also means the toilet will be largely odour-free.

The team had experimented with the idea before for a festival in western France’s Clisson, which saw festival-goers given the option of peeing into urinals that were connected directly to hay bales.

“We’ve adapted our previous idea so it’s suitable for the streets,” Massip said.

He said the Uritrottoir means people can save in toilet fees, and would create jobs for cleaners and city workers, considering the hay needs to be replaced every now and again.

And at just €500 to €600 per box, the idea is much cheaper for authorities than the current public toilet options around France, they argue.

Now, to fix the dog poop problem ...

Popular: France