Honors Top Taipei Public Restrooms

• To honor the staff responsible for maintaining quality public restrooms, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held an award ceremony on December 2, 2008 to announce the results of its evaluation.
• During the award ceremony, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin pointed out that the cleanliness of public restroom reflects a city’s success in modernization, since most advanced cities have clean public restrooms. He emphasized that in addition to the effort of the cleaning crew, residents should also take on some responsibilities. He reminded the public to call 1999 if they notice any problems with public restrooms.
• The city government has taken on a proactive role in promoting clean restrooms in recent years, remarked the mayor.
• Beginning in 2002, the city established a 4-level rating system for the cleanliness level of public restrooms. As of the 10,724 public restrooms maintained by the city, 83 percent received ratings of ‘good’ or higher. He said this trend shows that more and more residents are developing good hygiene behaviors and public ethics.
• Expressing his personal gratitude to the janitors responsible for cleaning up the public restrooms, Hau stressed that even though restroom use is a daily routine, most people would not want to take on the job of cleaning the restrooms.
• He praised the janitors for their work, which provides the public with clean restrooms. The mayor handed out the awards to the winners in person and also posed for pictures with the recipients.
• The evaluation committee is comprised of architects, representatives from the Consumer Protection Commission, scholars and environmental protection specialists.