ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Katja Scholz, ECJ’s reporter in Germany, on her observations of the country’s public toilets.

I will never forget the moment when, during my first holiday in Norway many years ago, I went into the public toilets in a shopping centre in Oslo. There was corner seating with a large couch at the entrance, there were numerous USB charging sockets for mobile phones and tablets, there was a pleasant smell and I didn’t feel the urge to turn round and walk straight out again because - it was clean!

I was so impressed – and after many visits in subsequent years I came to realise that, while not necessarily true overall, this is more the rule than the exception in Norway and the other Scandinavian countries.

In my home country, regrettably the reverse is the case. As a rule, public toilets are places that I would rather not enter - not everywhere, but very often.  Why is that? I often try to find an answer to this question. I have travelled in many European countries and time and again make comparisons, particularly when, like last week, I made a stop at a German service station.

There’s one thing I’m sure of: it’s not the fault of the cleaning staff! - despite manpower shortages in the sector. I am convinced that it’s users themselves who are the problem - how they behave, how they leave these places and how they treat other people’s property.  Not everyone, but with a population just short of 85 million in Germany, it’s enough if only a small percentage cannot or will not behave decently. This results in the conditions that we find ourselves with.

The work of cleaners responsible for public sanitary facilities is demanding and often particularly unpleasant. And what is even more annoying: no matter how good their work is, it only takes two or three people to ruin it. Frequency of cleaning cannot compensate for the behaviour of the users.
And yet the demands of people using public facilities are actually quite high, according to a study by Metsä Tissue.

The three most important items for the users of public toilets are:  paper towels, soap and hand sanitiser. The most important aspect when it comes to using public washrooms is the cleanliness of the facility – according to 63 per cent of those questioned in Germany. Even more - almost 90 per cent - like no-touch soap and paper towel dispensers.

Looking at the various locations for public toilets, the study found almost 80 per cent of respondents thought better of a restaurant if the toilet was clean and well-maintained, while in a shopping centre it was just under 70 per cent. So people expect washrooms to be clean and this gives them a better impression of the facilities - and yet the people responsible for those conditions are rarely the operator of these facilities but the users - we ourselves.

So is it ‘only’ the remaining 20 or 30 per cent who don’t gain a better general impression of the place or could it be that the respondents to the questionnaire, for whom cleanliness is so important, are also responsible for not leaving the facilities in the desired condition?

On the whole, I find the study informative but a little too sweeping for my liking. What is not in question is my own personal impression and my own experience. There are exceptions but why are they not the rule?  Why can’t we make life easier for the cleaners who have such a hard job every day, and at the same time make the visit to a public toilet a little bit more pleasant for ourselves?