
Toilet paper is only available if you scan the train station QR code - DyslexicAtheist
https://twitter.com/Amy_23_Cheng/status/1185428129545740289
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mthoodlum
China typically does not provide toilet paper in public restrooms. In some of
the international tourist spots, they tried giving away toilet paper and
locals would steal it. So they put in facial recognition and QR codes to
dispense it. Source:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4OwQaJItY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4OwQaJItY)

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natmaka
In rich & populated cities public restrooms are numerous, clean, more often
than not 'occidental' (non-squat), and toilet paper is often provided w/o any
special dispenser.

Source: I live in Shanghai.

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tomxor
I've traveled around China a few times and while my purpose was not to
complete a comprehensive toilet census, I only ever found toilet paper in
public restrooms in Shanghai (excluding restrooms of nice restaurants).
Shanghai also felt like the most expensive city.

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sly010
Toilet paper is generally not provided in public toilets in China. You should
carry your own. So in a way, this is positive.

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ekianjo
> You should carry your own.

Why don't they make paying toilets where you can have such services without
the hassle of carrying stuff?

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analyst74
There used to be paid toilet back in the day, but disappeared somehow, maybe
because nobody wants to be manning those toilets.

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pgrote
In the United States many areas passed laws banning them:

[https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-
bathroo...](https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroom-
restroom-free-market-90683)

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ivanhoe
Isn't this just the high-tech version of for-customers-only restrooms, which
is not such an uncommon thing AFAIK? For instance in McDonalds in Belgrade,
Serbia you have to scan the barcode from the receipt to open the door of the
toilet, which I always thought was a very neat solution.

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Ayesh
I happen to be in Belgrade right now, and the McDonalds I've been today didn't
have any barrier at the restroom. There was a keypad to enter a PIN, but the
door opened without a PIN.

In Munich, there were human staff at the gate collecting 50 cents to use the
toilet, and that's the weirdest McDonalds restroom I've been to so far.

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tinus_hn
Do the Twitter TOS allow mandatory follows like this?

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parennoob
As an aside: Toilet paper is an ancient, inefficient, and doubtfully hygienic
way of cleaning your backside in the modern world.

Start using bidets instead of this nonsense. The TP can still be used for
drying purposes.

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RawaHorse
I have bidets/washlets installed in my home, and the only problem has been
that I now can't go back. Whenever I travel I now have to carry around wet
wipes or I don't feel clean. But wet wipes are apparently horrible for the
environment.

I can't win.

~~~
Freak_NL
The problem with wet wipes is mostly that they should never, _absolutely
never_ , be flushed. Wet wipes combine with fat in the sewers, and form the
basis of an ever growing deposit of solid mass that will inevitably block the
sewer (or pipes if you are unlucky and the stuff builds up at an earlier
point).

When these deposits grow in size they are known as fatbergs. In London they
have had to remove fatbergs the size of double-decker buses, but it's a global
problem.

If you use wet wipes, the rule is simple: deposit them in the trash can — just
like period products and nappies.

Don't bother believing the 'flushable' wipes lie: all wipes are flushable for
sure, but they all contribute to the problem, and none disintegrate before
they mix with fat to become a potentially very expensive problem.

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LargoLasskhyfv
Maybe plumbing needs a general upgrade from being simply gravity assisted, to
something like this

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_disposal_unit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_disposal_unit)

which shreds anything to tiny pieces, which then again can flow freely,
instead of being stuck somewhere?

What is more expensive? Cleaning out fatbergs, or have something like this
installed at whichever 'layer' in the plumbing, or making bidets mandatory?

(Err...1st world problems while elsewhere many peoply shit who knows where...)

