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By Lee Han-soo
Trash bins are set to vanish from public restrooms in Seoul subway stations in phases from Aug. 1, according to Seoul Metro Friday.
The men's restroom trash bins will be removed first. The women's bins will be removed from Sep. 1 to allow sanitary waste bins to be installed.
The project, "Trash bin free restroom," aims to make public restrooms cleaner without the bad odor. It is already in effect on subway lines five to eight and will be extended to all Seoul subway lines except nine.
Seoul Metro is positive that after a trial the project will reduce odors and make the restrooms more welcoming.
"By eliminating the trash cans in restrooms, it will reduce foul odors and make it easier to maintain cleanness," a Seoul Metro official said. "This will allow citizens using the subway to use restrooms more comfortably."
Seoul Metro said it will concentrate its workforce on maintaining and repairing restrooms in the early stages of the project to minimize inconvenience in case toilets get clogged.
"The number of toilets clogged went up 6.6 times when the ‘Trash bin free restroom project' began for lines five to eight in 2012," the official said. "But now the number has gone down to match the clogging number before the implementation of the project."
