“There should be toilets after every 5 kilometers of the walking path”

Public toilets are naturally fast, preferably after every 5 kilometers of walking path. This is the great desire of twenty civil society organizations. There are toilets, but they are not enough. Especially when you see that due to the Coronavirus, we have been looking for a lot more outdoors for cycling and walking.

„Do you bear shit in the woods? “You get this rhetorical question in North America when you ask about the known route. Of course the bear goes to the bathroom in the woods. Where else?” Of course, people also have to relieve themselves when they are in the woods or in other nature and recreation areas. Exercise is important to people’s mental and physical health, but most people also have to answer the call of the same nature every few hours: We all have to go to the toilet six to eight times a day.

The Toilet Alliance takes action

In many countries, the number of public toilets is better regulated in nature and along the way than in the Netherlands. Otherwise, actions will be taken in any case. This is what has joined the Toilet Alliance, an initiative of the Maag Lever Bowel Foundation, which has joined twenty social organizations. The group has a website Where can I go to the toilet Called in life. And this is in very few places.

Research by the Toilet Alliance shows that there are very few public and open toilets of a Dutch nature and recreation areas. As a result, many people cannot enjoy nature without worries. In accordance with previous toilet standards for city and village centers and crowded pedestrian areas (one toilet every 500 meters), the Toilet Alliance today launches a standard for toilet in nature and recreational areas. A toilet every 25 kilometers along the bike paths and every 5 kilometers along the walking paths.

Busy by nature but there is a shortage of toilets

Bernique Tool, Director of the Maag Liver Bowel Foundation: “We have recently rediscovered nature en masse. Many new nature lovers have discovered what we have already known for a long time: that there are almost no toilets in the green. This prevents people from going out.”

According to the research published today by Prof. White papersToilets in nature reserves outside are more common. In North America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in alpine countries, vacationers have been using toilets without sewage for years. There are also many different creative possibilities in the Netherlands, but these are rarely used. For now, it will stay mainly with the restrooms open in visitor centers. With all the problems contamination caused by tissue paper and trampling plants next to the pathways that ensued. “With this toilet standard in hand, county, site directors and recreation boards can work. So cyclists and pedestrians can make sure they come across a toilet every hour to an hour and a half,” says Toll.

The HogeNood app

More and more municipalities make agreements with catering establishments, shops and service providers to open toilets for passers-by who need them most. These entrepreneurs often indicate this with a sticker on the door and an entry in the HogeNood app. Hjalmar Duif, HogeNood spokesperson: “Fortunately, we are now seeing more and more authorities in the countryside holding these agreements. Recreation North Holland, for example, is now putting many toilets into the application. You can install such a dry toilet in places that don’t exist. They have catering establishments. If you then put this in the application, entertainment enthusiasts can easily find it. “

One in four people with a gastrointestinal disease say they stay home regularly for fear of not finding a toilet. It can and should be done differently, according to the Toilet Alliance. Together with municipalities, retailers and entrepreneurs in the catering business, the group wants to ensure this is properly arranged in the Netherlands. In cities and villages as well as in nature.

Previously, measures were also taken in the Netherlands to provide enough toilets on trains. This was done by Trains With Toilets (TMT).

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