Goats and Soda: NPR


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Experts agree that the image on the left encourages toilet users to throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl instead of throwing it in the trash. As for the image on the right, it seems to issue a double warning: do not stand on the seat, do not relieve yourself in the upper tank.

Jennifer Wood / Courtesy of Doug Lansky


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Jennifer Wood / Courtesy of Doug Lansky

Experts agree that the image on the left encourages toilet users to throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl instead of throwing it in the trash. As for the image on the right, it seems to issue a double warning: do not stand on the seat, do not relieve yourself in the upper tank.

Jennifer Wood / Courtesy of Doug Lansky

The world is in a state of transition toilets.

Bathroom innovators are looking for ways to make toilets cleaner, safer and more environmentally friendly. In the meantime, there are many types of toilets in the world – and all of these options can be confusing.

In this panel of Taichung, Taiwan, the left-hand child may be used to pissing into a sewer on the floor, suggests Doug Lansky. The picture on the right guides it to the toilet bowl.

Sharon Wong / Courtesy of Doug Lansky


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Sharon Wong / Courtesy of Doug Lansky

In this panel of Taichung, Taiwan, the left-hand child may be used to pissing into a sewer on the floor, suggests Doug Lansky. The picture on the right guides it to the toilet bowl.

Sharon Wong / Courtesy of Doug Lansky

There is the Western style toilet – the white porcelain throne with integrated hunt. In some areas of the world, people can use squatting toilets, which usually involves planting their feet on each side and flying over a toilet bowl embedded in the floor. Or a toilet could simply be a hole in the ground.

According to the World Health Organization, 2.3 billion people "still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines".

The United States pleads for "adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all" by 2030.

As progress is made, cleanliness education will be required. Indeed, there is an abundance of toilet panels.

The images may seem unusual to some – why is this guy standing on the toilet lid to do his business? But the panels perform an important function, says Hope Randall, communications officer at PATH, a nonprofit organization focused on global health, including water and sanitation.

The signs can help communicate healthy and safe hygiene practices, especially to those who may not have much experience in the use of certain types of restrooms, says -she.

And what better day to share them than World Toilet Day – November 19? Jack Sim, a Singaporean entrepreneur and head of the World Toilet Organization, created the commemorative day in 2001. In 2013, this day was declared official day. The goal is to raise awareness of the need for more toilets.

Some of the signs of this message came from our readers, eager to share what they saw during their toilet expeditions. Others come from Instagram. And some are from Doug Lansky, author of Signspotting, a series of books on warning signs and fun tips.

The subject of toilets is particularly popular.

However, signs that encourage sitting instead of squatting may not send the best message.

Research has shown that our intestines could work better in a squatting position, Lansky and Randall emphasize.

"Plus, it's more hygienic to squat," Lansky says. "Squatters think it's disgusting to put our buttocks on the same seat as other people."

Lawrence Duffee, reader of Goats and Sodas, captured this photo at the Episcopal House of the South Sudan Church in Yei, South Sudan, in September 2012. He has been working as a humanitarian worker in the country since 2010.

The photo was taken at Episcopal Church South Sudan guest house in Yei in September 2012.

Lawrence Duffee


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Lawrence Duffee

The photo was taken at Episcopal Church South Sudan guest house in Yei in September 2012.

Lawrence Duffee

In an email to NPR, Duffee explained that many people in South Sudan practice open defecation or use pit latrines. "Being in a country where most people practiced open defecation or, at best, using pit latrines, I imagine that being confronted for the first time with what you call a "vaulted toilet" probably caused confusion leading to unfortunate results, "he wrote RADIO NATIONALE PUBLIQUE.

And then, there are the unmistakable images that emphasize the importance of the toilet in the first place.

The message is probably that open defecation is a taboo subject. According to UNICEF, the phrase refers to "the practice that people go out into fields, shrubs, forests, water bodies or other open spaces rather than to use the toilets to do their needs. " This type of toilet puts people at risk of contracting the disease through germs in human stools.

Doug Lansky


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Doug Lansky

Melody Schreiber (@m_scribe on Twitter) is an independent reporter in Washington, D.C.

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