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Beijing park utilizes facial recognition to regulate toilet paper use
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The dispensers in the bathroom of Temple of Heaven park will now scan user’s faces before releasing a 60 cm strip of toilet paper. (Shutterstock/File)
T
hanks to visitors stealing toilet paper from its bathrooms, a park in Beijing has installed toilet paper dispensers equipped with facial recognition software.
The dispensers in the bathroom of Temple of Heaven park scan users’ faces before releasing a 60 cm strip of toilet paper.
While the move has reignited debate over the supposed lack of social graces among some Chinese people, officials have already installed six machines in the public bathrooms as a trial. Staff members will be there to explain the technology to visitors.
(Read also: Chinese tourists’ manners improving: Study)
Should a visitor require more than 60cm in the nine minutes it takes for the dispensers to distribute more paper to the same person, they should not be worried. "If we encounter guests who have diarrhea or any other situation in which they urgently require toilet paper, then our staff on the ground will directly provide the toilet paper," a park spokesman told the newspaper Beijing Wanbao as quoted by the BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-39324431).
Since the park began dispensing free toilet paper in 2007, officials have been concerned by visitors taking excessive amounts. Some visitors have been seen stuffing rolls of toilet paper into bags.
While the new system has resulted in 20 percent less toilet paper being used, it is not without its faults. The machines take from 10 to 30 seconds to scan a face, so a line quickly amasses as a result. Two of the machines also broke down over this past weekend, says Beijing News. (sul/kes)
