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Global sustainability and accessibility seems a bit grandiose lol. It’s just a urinal after all. That being said, it’s been 4 years since Waterloo first determ

Global sustainability and accessibility seems a bit grandiose lol. It’s just a urinal after all. That being said, it’s been 4 years since Waterloo first determined this and it’s still unavailable to purchase. I’ve been patiently waiting for one to install in my shop but it seems like it’s not all that important for the globe if it’s still unavailable 4 years later.

blurbleblurble 27d ago
Same attitude that prevents the urinal manufacturers from switching I reckon
zdc1 27d ago
I would love to see some Nautilus style urinals because--as a self-interested adult--splashback also hits me if the angle is bad enough. Sometimes I even use the stalls to avoid those porcelain tricksters entirely.
jonhohle 27d ago
Things we take for granted, like washing hands, were pivotal in reducing illness in hospitals. If 50% of the population walk out of a public bathroom without tracking urine on their feet or anything else that touched the floor and custodians have 99% less bodily fluids to deal with, that seems like positive progress. Maybe it will move the needle in ways that are unexpected.
- hansvm 27d ago
  Yep. The next step is getting people to bother aiming for the urinal and hanging their member above it while shaking off any last drops. Till then, I don't think this design survives a collision with the real world.
sfink 27d ago
There are a lot of reasons why something could get picked up, and sustainability is very low on the list. The manufacturers don't care; they get paid the same regardless of the amount of splashback. Most businesses won't care unless it significantly reduces maintenance overhead, and that's only going to happen if splashed urine is the determining factor in how frequently a bathroom gets cleaned. (As opposed to paper towels littering the floor, supplies running out, or the various disgusting things that happen in stalls.) Even if it were the determining factor, there would likely be pushback when people realize that better urinals lead to less frequent cleanings, and I wouldn't want to be the one having to justify the switch to people. And of course, if you already have a urinal, nobody's eager to buy a new one, and nobody's eager to discuss this particular topic. The way I would see this happening is if users insist on it. And we likely won't until we experience one of these in real life, which makes it a chicken and egg problem. There's also the argument that splash mats are a cheaper and even superior approach. That argument is unconvincing to me, because the ones I have experienced have been mostly ineffective, but it sounds like others' experience has been better. Maybe here in the US we just don't have very good ones? As a country, we've always been pretty bad at anything that seems gross. (Not that it's all that different in the rest of the West.) We have this naive faith in the ability of dry toilet paper to clean that which it can not, and disgust at alternative approaches that actually work. But that's a different topic. (Specifically, solids not liquids!)
- legulere 27d ago
  > that's only going to happen if splashed urine is the determining factor in how frequently a bathroom gets cleaned If you believe in the broken windows theory, there's not one determining factor: Splashes of urine make the bathroom look dirtier and lead to people not taking care of the bathroom properly.
- sfink 26d ago
  Huh. Having said that, I went to a movie theater over the weekend and they had a funky splash mat in their urinals. It was magical. I'd never seen one shaped like that before. (The usual ones I see have always seemed to make things worse.) Maybe I just don't get out enough.
brudgers 27d ago
There are performant urinals in the market and have been for many years. Talk to a local mechanical engineer who does plumbing design for recommendations that are available in your market and their probable cost. If you are getting noticeable splashback, you have a very poorly designed urinal. The kind that gets architects angry calls from clients. —— I used to work in architecture.
- Rendello 27d ago
  I'm awaiting the Dyson splashless Suction Urinal.
  - shawn_w 26d ago
    As used by NASA and SpaceX.
    - Rendello 26d ago
      That's right, I didn't even think of that. Now I'm reading this fascinating article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_toilet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_toilet

blurbleblurble 27d ago

Same attitude that prevents the urinal manufacturers from switching I reckon

zdc1 27d ago

I would love to see some Nautilus style urinals because--as a self-interested adult--splashback also hits me if the angle is bad enough. Sometimes I even use the stalls to avoid those porcelain tricksters entirely.

jonhohle 27d ago

Things we take for granted, like washing hands, were pivotal in reducing illness in hospitals. If 50% of the population walk out of a public bathroom without tracking urine on their feet or anything else that touched the floor and custodians have 99% less bodily fluids to deal with, that seems like positive progress. Maybe it will move the needle in ways that are unexpected.

hansvm 27d ago
Yep. The next step is getting people to bother aiming for the urinal and hanging their member above it while shaking off any last drops. Till then, I don't think this design survives a collision with the real world.

sfink 27d ago

There are a lot of reasons why something could get picked up, and sustainability is very low on the list. The manufacturers don't care; they get paid the same regardless of the amount of splashback. Most businesses won't care unless it significantly reduces maintenance overhead, and that's only going to happen if splashed urine is the determining factor in how frequently a bathroom gets cleaned. (As opposed to paper towels littering the floor, supplies running out, or the various disgusting things that happen in stalls.) Even if it were the determining factor, there would likely be pushback when people realize that better urinals lead to less frequent cleanings, and I wouldn't want to be the one having to justify the switch to people. And of course, if you already have a urinal, nobody's eager to buy a new one, and nobody's eager to discuss this particular topic. The way I would see this happening is if users insist on it. And we likely won't until we experience one of these in real life, which makes it a chicken and egg problem. There's also the argument that splash mats are a cheaper and even superior approach. That argument is unconvincing to me, because the ones I have experienced have been mostly ineffective, but it sounds like others' experience has been better. Maybe here in the US we just don't have very good ones? As a country, we've always been pretty bad at anything that seems gross. (Not that it's all that different in the rest of the West.) We have this naive faith in the ability of dry toilet paper to clean that which it can not, and disgust at alternative approaches that actually work. But that's a different topic. (Specifically, solids not liquids!)

legulere 27d ago
> that's only going to happen if splashed urine is the determining factor in how frequently a bathroom gets cleaned If you believe in the broken windows theory, there's not one determining factor: Splashes of urine make the bathroom look dirtier and lead to people not taking care of the bathroom properly.
sfink 26d ago
Huh. Having said that, I went to a movie theater over the weekend and they had a funky splash mat in their urinals. It was magical. I'd never seen one shaped like that before. (The usual ones I see have always seemed to make things worse.) Maybe I just don't get out enough.

brudgers 27d ago

There are performant urinals in the market and have been for many years. Talk to a local mechanical engineer who does plumbing design for recommendations that are available in your market and their probable cost. If you are getting noticeable splashback, you have a very poorly designed urinal. The kind that gets architects angry calls from clients. —— I used to work in architecture.

Rendello 27d ago
I'm awaiting the Dyson splashless Suction Urinal.
- shawn_w 26d ago
  As used by NASA and SpaceX.
  - Rendello 26d ago
    That's right, I didn't even think of that. Now I'm reading this fascinating article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_toilet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_toilet