sanitary bin
{{Short description|Disposal container for used sanitary products}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
File:Sanitary_bin_-_Mens_Toilets_-_White_Rose_Centre_(cropped).jpg
A sanitary bin is a small receptacle for used menstrual hygiene products that is usually installed in toilet cubicles in many countries of the world. In New York, USA, in 1952 George S. James patented a 'sanitary waste disposal bin'. In the United Kingdom in 1955, Cannon Hygiene were the first waste management company to supply sanitary bins.
Background
File:Sanitary_napkin_incinerator_at_Rajkot_railway_station_IMG_20200125_191250.jpg
Disposable menstrual products were an invention in the early twentieth century, but initially there were no specialist waste receptacles to contain them.{{Cite web |last=Rostvik |first=Camilla |date=20 August 2018 |title="Feminine Waste Only!!!" A History of the UK Sanitary Bin in the Twentieth Century – Technology's Stories |url=https://www.technologystories.org/feminine-waste-only/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328094506/https://www.technologystories.org/feminine-waste-only/ |archive-date=28 March 2025 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=www.technologystories.org |language=en}} Some public toilets contained small cremators, which incinerated the waste products, but more often there was no provision. This meant that most people had to flush, hide or carry these products out of the toilets themselves. One early provider of incinerators in the UK was Southalls' Sanitary Requisites, who were advertising the devices in 1916.{{Cite journal |last=Røstvik |first=Camilla Mørk |date=2021 |title='Do Not Flush Feminine Products!' The Environmental History, Biohazards and Norms Contained in the UK Sanitary Bin Industry Since 1960 |url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3197/096734019X15740974883807 |journal=Environment and History |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=549–579 |doi=10.3197/096734019X15740974883807|bibcode=2021EnHis..27..549R |hdl=10023/24296 |hdl-access=free }} The largest manufacturer of incinerators in the UK in the mid-twentieth century was Wandsworth Electrical Manufacturing Company; these were given the soubriquet 'bunnie incinerators'. However they were not common, and women were more likely to flush or hide used products. The issue of hiding menstrual products was noticeable during the Second World War in England, and the Medical Women's Federation (MWF) established a 'Menstruation Leaflet Committee' to spread information to counter the issue. The MWF suggested the process that is recognizable to many today – that each cubicle contains a paper bag for used menstrual products, and a bin for them to be put in.
Early use and development
File:SaniPod_sanitary_bin_at_FACT_Liverpool_-_black_and_white_white_flower_and_butterfly_design.jpg
In New York, USA, in 1952 George S. James patented a 'sanitary waste disposal bin'. In 1955, Cannon Hygiene (Citron Hygiene) were the first waste management company to supply sanitary bins, especially as the number of women in the workforce was growing in post-war Britain.{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Tim |date=2022-09-30 |title=A History of The UK Sanitary Towel Bin & How These Services Have Changed |url=https://www.citronhygiene.co.uk/resources/a-history-of-uk-sanitary-bins-how-sanitary-bin-services-have-changed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328094857/https://www.citronhygiene.co.uk/resources/a-history-of-uk-sanitary-bins-how-sanitary-bin-services-have-changed |archive-date=28 March 2025 |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Citron Hygiene |language=en-GB}} Original Cannon bins were blue in colour, and in 2018 could still be found in some public bathrooms in Scotland. Other companies joined the industry, with PHS and Rentokil offering a 'sanitary unit exchange', where new bins were supplied and the used ones removed, emptied, washed and returned to another location. Anecdotally, PHS became involved in the industry due to the suggestion made by one of the company secretaries to its owners Alfred and George Tack.
In the United Kingdom in the 1970s, there was expansion in the use of menstrual products, but still an absence of disposal options, especially in public places. The Women's Environment Network (WEN) raised this as an issue arguing that the huge amounts of waste created additional landfill, as well as air pollution through incineration, challenges to plumbing and water pollution. A further innovation in sanitary bins came as a response to research commissioned by Rentokil in the United Kingdom in 1980, which stated that over 70% of used menstrual products also had traces of feces and bacteria. This led to the treatment of sanitary bins with bactericides as part of the re-sanitation process throughout the 1980s.
File:Touchfree_sanitary_bin.webm
New legislation in the UK in the 1990s meant that employers had a responsibility to provide safe methods for disposal. This meant that by the mid-1990s sanitary bins were common in toilets. In the 2010s, there was a trend for more aesthetic sanitary bins in the UK: Canon Hygiene introduced cylindrical wall-mounted bins; Initial introduced brightly coloured bins. Innovations also included bins with a no-touch sensor, where the 'modesty flap' (the lid) opens automatically.
Fabrication
In the UK most sanitary bins are constructed from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which is a recyclable plastic. They generally have a capacity of 23 litres and have {{cvt|460|x|425|x|200|mm}}.
In 2010, Woman's Hour host Emma Barnett drew attention to the poor design of some women's toilets, which often have very little space for sanitary bins, or the containers are added as an afterthought.{{Cite news |last=Petter |first=Olivia |date=16 June 2021 |title=Emma Barnett sparks conversation about sanitary bins squeezed into women's toilet cubicles |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/emma-barnett-toilet-women-cubicles-cramped-b1866893.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325174825/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/emma-barnett-toilet-women-cubicles-cramped-b1866893.html |archive-date=25 March 2023 |access-date=2024-12-15 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB |url-status=live }}
Inclusion
File:Incontinence_waste_bin_targeted_to_men,_in_women's_toilet_in_UK.jpg
In the UK, the campaign 'Boys Need Bins' led by Prostate Cancer UK has been drawing attention to the need for sanitary bins to be placed in male toilets.{{Cite web |last=Sherratt |first=Samantha |date=2024-02-28 |title=Boys need bins - campaign update |url=https://urostomyassociation.org.uk/news/boys-need-bins-campaign-update/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Urostomy Association |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |date=2024-03-12 |title=Men's sanitary bins installed in Hampshire council buildings |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-68536660 |access-date=2024-12-15 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=idio |date=2024-04-16 |title=Inclusive Bathrooms: Hygiene Bins for All |url=https://www.twc-facilities.com/inclusive-bathrooms-hygiene-bins-for-all/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=TWC Facilities Washroom & Hygiene services |language=en-GB}} In Japan, they are not often installed in men's restrooms, but there are requests from men who use incontinence pads, and there is a movement to install them.{{Cite web |script-title=ja:男性トイレにサニタリーボックス設置の動き 前立腺がん患者らにニーズ：中日新聞Web |url=https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/536802 |access-date=2024-12-15 |script-website=ja:中日新聞Web |language=ja}}{{Cite web |script-title=ja:男子トイレにサニタリーボックスを設置する目的と意義。自治体の設置状況とは {{!}} 株式会社テラモト |url=https://www.teramoto.co.jp/columns/18451/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |language=ja}}
In 2024, the Football Association launched an investigation as to why sanitary bins weren't available in all the women's toilets at the FA Cup Final.{{Cite news |title=FA launches cup final investigation over women's toilet without sanitary bin |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/womens-fa-cup-wembley-stadium-sanitary-bin-b2544232.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240608223824/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/womens-fa-cup-wembley-stadium-sanitary-bin-b2544232.html |archive-date=8 June 2024 |access-date=2024-12-15 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB |url-status=live }}
File:Sanitary_bin_with_braille_description.jpg
Some sanitary bins feature Braille on the lids, a feature designed to better enable visually-impaired people using the receptacles.
Art
Artist Judy Chicago was one the first to engage with sanitary bins as part of her practice; her installation Menstruation Bathroom (part of Womanhouse) featured bins overflowing with menstrual products. In the 2000s, artist and zinester Chella Quint, placed educational zines into the paper bags provided in toilets for used menstrual products.
Anti-terrorism
Due to increased security measures for the G20 Osaka Summit in 2019, coin lockers and trash cans in stations around Tokyo and Osaka were closed, including sanitary bins in women's restrooms. These were removed from stations on Seibu Railway by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation.{{Cite web |script-title=ja:G20対策で東京の駅トイレからサニタリーボックスがなくなった？ 鉄道各社に対応を聞いた |url=https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1906/27/news121.html |access-date=2024-12-15 |script-website=ja:ねとらぼ |language=ja}} There was a backlash on their removal, which railway managers and security experts did not anticipate, due to the fact that no alternative solutions were considered for what to do with used sanitary products.{{Cite web |date=2019-10-24 |script-title=ja:気軽に語れるようになった「生理」について改めて考えてみる：朝日新聞GLOBE＋ |url=https://globe.asahi.com/article/12817774 |access-date=2024-12-15 |script-website=ja:朝日新聞GLOBE＋ |language=ja}} Sanitary bins were even removed in Tokyo, which is {{cvt|450|km}} away from Osaka.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-29 |title=G20 Osaka security measure: removing sanitary towel bins in Tokyo |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3016613/osaka-g20-summit-security-measure-removing-sanitary-towel-bins |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}
References
{{Commons|Category:Sanitary bins}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Human waste elimination}}