Lawmakers on Thursday questioned a plan by the Ministry of Environment to visit Tokyo to study toilet design, with the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee expressing concerns that the visit would instead be more like a vacation.
The trip’s aim is to learn from Japan’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology in public restrooms to monitor odor and optimize cleaning schedules, the ministry said, adding that Taiwan’s own program to improve its public restrooms has not made the expected progress.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) said the ministry has proposed five overseas trips, with budgets from NT$160,000 to NT$400,000, and that each trip should have 10 percent of its budget frozen.
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Environmental Management Administration Director-General Yen Hsu-ming (顏旭明) said that prior to the Olympics, Tokyo renovated 17 public restrooms in innovative and modern ways.
Learning from those examples could greatly improve the quality of Taiwan’s public restrooms, Yen said, adding that this type of trip was the first of its kind.
In response to Su’s concerns about the trip being an excuse to enjoy Tokyo, Yen said that “it is difficult to eat and drink” in a restroom, and that he hoped the trip’s already modest budget would not be reduced.
The committee reduced combined funding for the five trips by NT$100,000.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) said the ministry has been working to improve Taiwan’s restrooms since before it was an independent ministry and questioned why a visit abroad was necessary.
In response, Yen said that in the past, managing public restrooms was focused on cleanliness, rather than ensuring that they are comfortable for all groups, are modern or are examples of public art.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said that in the future, Taiwan’s restrooms could follow the example of Tokyo’s latest designs, such as by having smart sensors to proactively detect odors and increasing cleaning frequency.
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