Council group leaders are backing a call for Portsmouth businesses to consider installing male sanitary bins in their toilet facilities.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed, rising to 1 in 4 for black men. As many as 69% of those treated with surgery
may experience urinary incontinence as a result. 1 in 25 men aged over 40 will experience some form of urinary leakage every year. 1 in 20 men aged 60 or over will experience bowel incontinence in the UK.
Men who need to dispose of their sanitary waste (including incontinence pads, pouches, stoma, catheter, colostomy, ileostomy waste by-products) often have no direct access to a sanitary bin in male toilets. A survey of men living with incontinence reveals that 95% feel anxiety due to a lack of sanitary bins in men’s toilets for disposing of pads hygienically.
Nearly one third of men surveyed have been forced to carry their own waste in a bag. The council agreed that men should be able to safely and hygienically dispose of incontinence products easily and with dignity wherever they go and that men who need to dispose of their sanitary waste should have direct access to a sanitary bin in male toilets and resolved to support Prostate Cancer UK’s ‘Boys need Bins’ campaign.
The council will be reviewing provision across its public conveniences and buildings to address this issue and urge all businesses to consider introducing sanitary bins in male and unisex toilets in their buildings so that together we can improve things for men in Portsmouth and collectively help to end this stigma.
Read the full letter here – Letter to businesses re male sanitary bins
Let us know if your business can action this.