--- title: Open Air Urinals in Paris Upset Residents description: Bright red eco-urinals called "uritroittoirs" now sit alongside the Seine near Notre Dame cathedral. canonical: https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-14T15:34:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:14.464Z og:title: Not Everyone Is Thrilled About Paris’s New Public Urinals og:description: Bright red eco-urinals now sit alongside the Seine near Notre Dame cathedral og:url: https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta17883d5a85f492a/698937b6929fad87d2bf14fe/openairurinal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: New Public Urinal Provoks Controversy In Paris og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Not Everyone Is Thrilled About Paris’s New Public Urinals twitter:description: Bright red eco-urinals now sit alongside the Seine near Notre Dame cathedral twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta17883d5a85f492a/698937b6929fad87d2bf14fe/openairurinal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Not Everyone Is Thrilled About Paris’s New Eco-Friendly Open-Air Urinals > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: 5 Affordable Earth-Friendly Products [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Affordable Earth-Friendly Products](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xuTa6imQ.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2018-08-02. 5 Affordable Earth-Friendly Products_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 14, 2018 3:34 PM UTC  A view of a local public urinal on Ile Saint Louis along the river Seine on August 14, 2018 in Paris, France. The eco-friendly Uritrottoir public urinals are have caused controversy among local residents who have asked Paris City Hall to remove them. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images) A view of a local public urinal on Ile Saint Louis along the river Seine on August 14, 2018 in Paris, France. The eco-friendly Uritrottoir public urinals are have caused controversy among local residents who have asked Paris City Hall to remove them. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images) Aurelien Meunier—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 14, 2018 3:34 PM UTC Visitors to [Paris](http://time.com/5334364/paris-attacks-bistros-unesco/) may have noticed a new addition to the city’s well-known landscape—bright red eco-urinals, which now sit alongside the Seine near Notre Dame cathedral and other spots around the city. The new urinals, called “uritrottoirs” which blends the verb “uriner” and the French word for pavement, are the latest weapon in the city’s longtime battle against public urination (by men). The “intelligent urinals,” are designed for easy access if not discretion or subtlety. Men simply sidle up to them and make use of the bright red box with a built-in layer of straw and sawdust designed to eliminate odor and create [compost](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1945350,00.html) for use in gardens. “People urinating on the streets of France is a serious problem,” [told _The Local._](https://www.thelocal.fr/20160517/is-this-the-eco-solution-to-frances-wild-peeing-problem) “And we knew there was a big demand for a solution, so we’ve come up with one.” The first of these environmentally-friendly urinals was installed near Gare de Lyon, which the BBC [called](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38829171) “a notorious black spot for [urinating](http://time.com/5182826/how-to-use-a-toilet-seat-cover/) in public”. Since then three more eco-urinals have been installed around the city, and a fifth is planned for areas where public urination is a problem, [according to a statement](https://www.paris.fr/actualites/uritrottoir-des-pissotieres-ecolos-fleurissent-dans-paris-6033) from city officials. Ariel Weil, mayor of they city’s 4th arrondissement, called them [“an invention of genius.”](https://twitter.com/ArielWeilT/status/1028899386108063744) However, not everyone agrees. One particular urinal, located near Notre Dame cathedral and overlooking the Seine and the tourist boats that cruise the river, has been problematic for residents alarmed by the new addition to the historic site. ”There‘s no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such an historic spot,” Paola Pellizzari, who owns a nearby art dealership,[ told _Reuters_](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-urinals/paris-residents-peeved-at-very-public-eco-friendly-urinals-idUSKBN1KY1L7) Other critics pointed out to the news agency that providing [toilets only for men](http://time.com/3653871/womens-bathroom-lines-sexist-potty-parity/) reeked of sexism. Paris isn’t the first city to install outdoor urinals in the hopes of curbing public urination. Edinburgh [tried](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11828580) them, Sydney, Australia has [tested them](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-04-07/public-urinals-that-will-go-on-trial-in-sydney/2626480), and the bathroom fixtures have been fixtures on Amsterdam’s streets for years. These aren’t even the sole public urinals in Paris—dour grey public urinals, colloquially known as “pipi sauvage” are located in many streets near the city center. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/"},"headline":"Not Everyone Is Thrilled About Paris’s New Eco-Friendly Open-Air Urinals","datePublished":"2018-08-14T15:34:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:14.464Z","description":"Bright red eco-urinals called \"uritroittoirs\" now sit alongside the Seine near Notre Dame cathedral.","url":"https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/","keywords":["Newsfeed","paris"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta17883d5a85f492a/698937b6929fad87d2bf14fe/openairurinal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta17883d5a85f492a/698937b6929fad87d2bf14fe/openairurinal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New Public Urinal Provoks Controversy In Paris","caption":"Open Air Urinals Appear in Paris","creditText":"Aurelien Meunier—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/","name":"Not Everyone Is Thrilled About Paris’s New Eco-Friendly Open-Air Urinals"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Affordable Earth-Friendly Products","description":"5 Affordable Earth-Friendly Products","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xuTa6imQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-08-02T15:29:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xuTa6imQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5366560/open-air-urinal/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```