User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in New Zealand

Public toilets in New Zealand, called public conveniences and dunnies, are relatively common in New Zealand. They are often equipped with diaper changing stations, soap, handwashing stations, and sex-segregated men's public toilets often have urinals. Tourism had a lot of demand for public toilets, demand that New Zealand could not meet and which taxed local infrastructure.

Public toilets
Local words for public toilets include public conveniences and dunny. A 2021 study found there was 45 public toilets per 100,000 people. In urban areas in 2021, there were around 34 public toilets per 100,000 people. In rural areas, there were around 43 public toilets per 100,000 people. Public toilets with diaper changing stations are called Mother's Rooms. There are often signs on the street to let people know where public toilets are located. Public toilets are located on the streets, hotel lobbies, bars, restaurants, museums, department stores, railway and bus stations, and service stations. The cleanest public toilets are often in hotels and fast food restaurants. Some restaurants and bars only allow their customers to use the their toilets. In the early 2020s, most public toilets in New Zealand were not heated. New Zealand has several types of public toilets. There are some unisex toilets and some sex-segregated toilets. Unisex facilities rarely had urinals, but often had handwashing amenities. Sex-segregated male public toilets often had urinals.

During the highest lockdown level during the Covid-19 pandemic, all public toilets in New Zealand were closed. Some local city councils, like the one in Napier, tried to increase soap availability during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with putting up additional signage in public toilets to remind people of the importance of washing their hands. In the early 2020s, 4% of public bathrooms did not provide water for handwashing and 38 to 39% did not provide soap. At cafes, 2% did not provide water and 13% did not provide soap. 13% of the population did not wash their hands and 28% did not use soap in public toilets in the early 2020s.

Public toilets are often located at beaches, public parks and in town centers. In more rural areas, composting toilets and long-drop toilets are more likely to be found. These rural toilets rarely have toilet paper but are often free to use. DOC managed campsites provided toilets and running water, charging around NZ$6 to NZ$10 per night. Campgrounds at Lake Karapiro, Cascade Creek in the Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound are designed for camper vans and do not have public toilet facilities. The South Taranaki single stall public toilet was used by more than 50 people every evening in 2016. As a result, some people would practice open defecation in nearby bushes.

New Zealand still had not public toilet demand in the early 2020s, especially in areas with large numbers of international tourists. Public toilet infrastructure was unable to keep pace with the number of tourists using those facilities in the 2010s. This sometimes put locals into conflict with toilets, as in more remote areas some "freedom campers" would use public toilets to wash themselves, their clothes and their cookware in sinks located in nearby public toilets. When public toilets in touristy areas in the 2010s was lacking or overcrowded, tourists would sometimes practice open defecation in rivers and beaches. This led to reduced environmental quality as a result of contamination from human fecal matter. In order to combat litter and open defecation, Freedom Camping Act in 2011 made it illegal to leave used toilet paper on beaches, roadside and in bushes. New Zealand still had not public toilet demand in the early 2020s, especially in areas with large numbers of international tourists.

Queenstown and Wanaka public libraries faced the issue of tourists using their public toilet facilities in the mid-2010s. Some tourists would do things like brush their teeth, wash their clothes and take sponge baths in library toilets.

Glenorchy had to import public toilets in the summer of 2017 because of the large numbers of tourist defecating in private gardens and public parks, and septic tank leakages in two existing public toilet blocks. The town, who averaged 150,000 tourists a year, could not keep up with the public demand for toilet access.

The Sofitel lobby bathroom in Queenstown, with its interior design by Group CDA, had photos of women looking like they were judging men's penises while men used the urinals.

Public toilets in Wellington and shaped like a lobster were listed in a 2016 Lonely Planet guide to the 100 best toilets in the world because of their view.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in New Zealand
Around one in three women in the world in 2016 lacked access to a toilet. In quasi public spaces in the Western world with toilet facilities, there is rarely rigid sex separation. This includes in large, private homes where lots of entertaining is done. Women's toilets often require special sex-specific features. This includes places to dispose of tampons and sanitary napkins. The disposal container is often a large plastic bin. In smaller toilet stalls, this can make it difficult for women to sit because of these disposal bins may touch the seat or a woman may come into contact with them when she sits on the toilet seat. During the Victorian period, a woman's modesty could be threatened by the act of using a public toilet.

Despite toilet paper being used in parts of China starting in the mid-800s, paper was expensive to produce and considered valuable; this meant most places did not start using toilet paper until relatively late. Homosexual American servicemen sometimes used public toilets in bigger cities in the Pacific during World War II as places to have trysts.