New Public Toilets Will Be Sparkly Clean: FEHD

The government says it will adopt “innovative” flushing technologies at some of the city's toilets, as it pushes ahead with a HK$600 million plan to renovate around 240 public conveniences over the coming five years.

At a Legco meeting on Thursday, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it hopes to make these newly refurbished toilets stain and odour-free, with dry and clean floors.

The department’s director, Vivian Lau, said officials will decide which toilets to renovate first based on their condition and usage rates. She also outlined some of the "innovative" technologies which will be adopted at these facilities.

"At the public toilet at Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok we are going to use ozone in flushing water for sanitisation and removing odours. At the Peak and Tsuen Wan there will be a few toilets where we are going to use oxygen for deodorisation, so we are using technology to decompose the odorous participles to carbon dioxide and water”, Lau said.

To ensure dry floors, Lau said hand dryers will be installed right beside the sinks to avoid the need for people to walk across the toilet floor with water dripping off their hands.

The city’s public toilets are often criticised as being very dirty, smelly and poorly maintained.