Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human. PHLUSH believes that toilet use is a human right.
The provision of well managed, cost effective toilets results from attitude change. As Americans we need to reflect on our shared values of human rights, comfort and dignity as well as the practical need of all people to have access to restrooms when they’re away from home. Here are some of our projects.
2011 Research on ecological sanitation with new section on website. Continued collaboration with international partners. Regularly reply to inquiries from grassroots North American groups promoting public restrooms. Toilets for Emergencies fall campaign in collaboration with PNCA and Christchurch compost toilet group. CPTED research for World Toilet Summit paper ”Building Safe Toilet Design into Shared Urban Space.”
2010 New partnerships enable us to broaden our mission to include research on ecological sanitation options suitable for adoption in urban areas. Year-long participation on committee led by International Code Council to draft global toilet design guidelines. Signage campaign entitled “Telling Visitors to Old Town Chinatown where to go” implemented with funding from the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Presentation at the World Toilet Summit in Philadelphia on “Sanitation Policy Advocacy in Flush-and-Forget America.” Celebrated World Toilet Day opening a new Portland Loo with city officials.
2009 Local community fundraising enables two PHLUSH Co-Founders to travel to Singapore following invitation from the World Toilet Organization to present the PHLUSH Public Restroom Design Principles. First PHLUSH Awards honor public restroom heros. PHLUSH website and blog are launched. Neighborhood Hospitality Campaign provides restroom locator cards and window signage to direct visitors to public restrooms.
2008 PHLUSH Public Restroom Design Principles win approval of neighborhood groups. PHLUSH supports the launch of The Portland Loo and serves on design team for Ankeny Plaza restroom complex.
2007 Appointed by Portland Mayor Tom Potter to the Restroom Implementation Team, which among other activities, opened 7 new toilets in downtown Portland and put contemporary signage on historic comfort stations. In collaboration with Central City Concern and with the Village Building Convergence 7 of City Repair, PHLUSH hosts community toilet design workshops.
2006 PHLUSH presents Public Restrooms for Old Town Chinatown: A Report to the Community for adoption by the Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association and other local groups. Advises Relief Works, a graduate team at Portland State University School of Urban Studies, on publication of Going Public: Strategies for Meeting Public Restroom Need in Portland’s Central City. Collaborates with City Repair to participate in Village Building Convergence 6.
2005 Formed as an informal work group to study public restroom options for Old Town Chinatown.
Here’s more on how PHLUSH started and where we’re going.
Media coverage of PHLUSH is here.
