White plastic portable urinals resembling giant mutant lilies are Copenhagen's latest weapon against men peeing in doorways, on benches, in corners and, well, pretty much everywhere else after a night of drinking.
Last weekend, the City Council tested the mobile urinal on the street. The unit, nothing more than a large plastic funnel, can be placed just above a city sewer so that the urine is washed away, rather than left to mellow on a city bench for an unsuspecting tourist to plop down in on Sunday morning.
"It's something we developed for the Distortion music festival to create an easy, simple solution to an urban problem that can be set up and taken down easily," Claus Robl who heads up the Center for Renhold, the part of the city’s Technical and Environmental Department responsible for the daily cleaning of the city’s public areas, told Politiken newspaper.
The plastic potties were apparently a success during Distortion.
"We did not get nearly as many complaints about people urinating on the walls of houses or on garden gates," said Robl.
Last weekend's test was intended to see if the urinals helped cut down on the offensive flow on a normal weekend. No word on how St Patrick's Day falling last Sunday may have skewed the results.
"These are not something that should be permanently standing in the streets," said Robl. "They can be put up as needed, and we want to find out where it makes the most sense to put them up."
