WASHROOM
TRENDING TIMES Amelia Baker from washroom provider Tork®
The world as we know it has changed dramatically over the past few decades.
When the prosperous 1980s gave way to a series of recessions it created an environment of caution in which many of us became reluctant to overspend.
Meanwhile, a greater awareness of climate change, greenhouse gases and our carbon footprint focused our attention on sustainability. As a result we became much more averse to creating waste, which meant that items that were once routinely thrown away were suddenly reused, repurposed or recycled.
Sustainability has become so important that today’s suppliers are often required to prove their sustainability credentials to clients when going in to tender. They need to show that they can
26 | TOMORROW’S FM considers how public washrooms
have evolved over the past 20 years, in the light of changing attitudes towards hygiene, sustainability, equality and accessibility.
deliver products that are manufactured using raw materials derived from trusted sources.
In the past decade, too, the smartphone has revolutionised our world with more than 2.6 billion of us worldwide now owning a web-enabled mobile. This has allowed us to remain connected with each other at all times – and increasingly with objects, too - as the Internet of Things takes off.
And society has seen other changes as well. The Equality Act 2010 made discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, age and disability illegal in the workplace and in wider society. This greater focus on equality has seen a blurring of the traditional roles of men and women plus an improved
understanding of the needs of the disabled.
The world’s population is becoming older all the time; etimates show that the number of older people has tripled over the last 50 years and will more than triple again over the next 50. Older people are more vulnerable to infections and viruses and this – coupled with recent health scares regarding Ebola, SARS, swine flu and bird flu - has made us increasingly aware of the need for hygiene so that we can remain healthy as we age.
All these factors have had an influence on every aspect of our lives –and the public washroom is no exception. For example, the difference between gents and ladies’ facilities has become less significant today than it once was.
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