When someone needs a toilet but doesn’t have a home: building support for public toilets

July 15, 2017
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This post is by PHLUSH board member Kyle Earlywine. He also runs his own toilet business and blog. He is a passionate advocate for dignified sanitation for those living without homes. Why do homeless people need toilets? For most people, access to a toilet is a given. Even if your community lacks restroom access,...

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How do you engage government officials on toilets?

May 11, 2017
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How do you engage government officials on toilets?

Access to water and sanitation are human rights!  But saying this is not enough to get a commitment from governments. We need to engage and persuade public officials who are likely to have limited funding and competing priorities. We need to understand their priorities and motivations if we are to influence governments at the...

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An interview with Anna Preble on Portland’s All-User restrooms

October 18, 2016
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An interview with Anna Preble on Portland’s All-User restrooms

PHLUSH is an all-volunteer organization; our volunteers respond to calls from local agencies and organizations. This ethos brings together a group of motivated professionals working all across North America on diverse sanitation issues. We are proud to feature the work of Anna Preble. Her tireless efforts around public toilet access in Portland have led...

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Social inclusion, toilet rights, and legal protection for transgender Americans

August 31, 2016
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Social inclusion, toilet rights, and legal protection for transgender Americans

Public toilets have long been at the forefront of human rights advocacy in the United States. During the past year, the transgender community and parents of young children who identify with a gender other than their birth sex have successfully advocated for laws requiring gender-neutral toilet rooms to ensure greater privacy. This expansion of...

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Innovative start-up brings waterless ecological toilets to festivals in the Pacific Northwest

May 16, 2016
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Innovative start-up brings waterless ecological toilets to festivals in the Pacific Northwest

When we heard about a company providing portable composting toilets for events in the Pacific Northwest, we wanted to learn more.  So we got in touch with Nicole Cousino,  founder of Nature Commode. Is this your first start up? Nature Commode is my first venture of this kind. I did a few projects 20...

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Teen leads movement bringing menstrual hygiene supplies to thousands of houseless women.

February 25, 2016
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Teen leads movement bringing menstrual hygiene supplies to thousands of houseless women.

Editor’s Note We recently had the opportunity to meet 17-year old Nadya Okamoto, who founded the Camions of Care, a 501c3 nonprofit in Portland, Oregon.  In the past year Camions of Care team members have distributed more than 6,000 care packages of feminine hygiene products through 25 nonprofit partners.  Here is the story in...

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Lorry Drivers Need Loos, Too!

November 19, 2015
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Lorry Drivers Need Loos, Too!

This guest post from Gill Kemp, leader of Truckers’ Toilets UK and committee member of the British Toilet Association, is last in our series to celebrate World Toilet Day – TODAY – November 19 with the launch of PHLUSH Public Toilet Advocacy Toolkit. The UK is getting ready for Christmas. The shelves are beginning...

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Exclusion by design: a slippery ride

November 16, 2015
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Exclusion by design: a slippery ride

This guest post from Rhonda Cheryl Solomon, master’s degree in Regional and Urban Planning Studies and proprietor of the Gotta Go: Examining Public Toilet Provision in the City blog, is third in our series to celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19 with the launch of PHLUSH Public Toilet Advocacy Toolkit. Before a city...

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US capital city lacks public toilets: People for Fairness Coalition launches critical initiative

November 4, 2015
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US capital city lacks public toilets: People for Fairness Coalition launches critical initiative

This guest post from People for Fairness Coalition (PFFC) is second in our series to celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19 with the launch of PHLUSH Public Toilet Advocacy Toolkit. People living in, working in, and visiting European and Asian capitals take it for granted that, when they need to go, they will...

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Austin’s Trail Restroom is a stylish and functional sculpture

October 20, 2015
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Austin’s Trail Restroom is a stylish and functional sculpture

To celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19, PHLUSH is launching a Public Toilet Advocacy Toolkit. Today, we also begin a series of guest blog posts on restroom initiatives. The first in our series is by Kaitlin Krull. She is an Austin, Texas writer who covers design for Modernize. Photos are by Paul Finkel...

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Our Mission Through education and advocacy, PHLUSH helps local governments and citizen groups to provide equitable public restroom availability and to prepare for a pipe-breaking seismic event with appropriate ecological toilet systems.

Our Vision Toilet availability is a human right and well-designed sanitation systems restore health to our cities, our waters and our soils.

Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human (PHLUSH) was founded in Portland, Oregon and today collaborates with groups across North America.

PHLUSH is a member of the World Toilet Organization and a partner in the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance.

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