Toilets of the World

Welcome to the Toilets of the World

Are you wondering why people hoard toilet paper? Wondering how to use a bidet, or even what a bidet is? Curious about what the toilets are like in other countries? Toilets from ancient history? Do you wonder who invented the flush toilet? (It wasn't Thomas Crapper!) You've come to the right place!

Toilets around the world:
Belgium Bulgaria China France Greek Islands Japan Morocco Trinidad Russia and many others
Toilets from throughout history:
The Stone Age Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Bible era King Arthur's England Invention of the flush toilet To the toilets of the future

170 days until Thomas Crapper's birthday

229 days until World Toilet Day

Answers for your important questions: Why do people hoard toilet paper? Did Thomas Crapper invent the flush toilet? Should I squat or sit? Should I wipe or wash? Where do I put used paper, in the bowl or in the bin? When did public toilets become segregated by sex? What is a bidet? What is a toilet snorkel? Should I incinerate my sewage in the basement?

Toilets of world leaders, artists, and authors: The Ottoman Sultan Woodrow Wilson Leon Trotsky Winston Churchill Adolf Hitler Dwight Eisenhower Robert Kennedy William Shakespeare Edgar Allan Poe Vincent Van Gogh Jim Morrison Lady Gaga

Where do I put used toilet paper?
In the bowl or in the bin?

Sparkling clean bathroom at Hostel Mostel in Veliko Tarnovo.

Do you know what to do with used toilet paper? If you start to say "Of course! You always put it in the...", then you are wrong! It varies from one country to the next, and sometimes it varies within a country. In some places you put it into the toilet and in other places it goes into a dedicated rubbish bin. Maybe you're anxiously looking this up on your smart phone while sitting on a toilet.

If so, look around you and see if there's a small rubbish container within arm's reach, probably lined with a plastic bag. Peep in there and see if it already contains used toilet paper. If so, put your paper there.

If there's no rubbish bin in sight, or if you're in the U.S., Canada, or Northwestern Europe, drop it in the toilet and hope for the best. For more details, keep reading!

Toilet paper should not be put into most squat toilets, as they are usually plumbed into systems not intended to handle paper. Squat toilets are common in countries in which water is the preferred personal cleaning method.

This toilet is in the Lupanaro, the famously well-preserved Roman brothel at Pompeii. It was preserved by being buried in ash in the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August, 79 AD.

The Romans, or at least the higher-class men patronizing this brothel, would have cleaned themselves with a tersorium, a sponge mounted on a stick. They (or more likely, a servant) would have rinsed the tersorium in a bucket of salt water or vinegar and then removed the chamber pot from underneath the toilet seat and dumped it into the sewer immediately outside.

Click here for more on the plumbing of Pompeii.

Check back tomorrow for another featured toilet!

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