Men of Australia, we need your help!
If you suffer from incontinence, you will probably relate to the problem that Alan experienced at the Air Show in 2011.
Four weeks after having his prostate removed, Alan attended the Air Show in Melbourne with his great mate, Pete. They had a ball checking out all the aircraft, taking heaps of pictures and smelling the avgas.
At the time, Alan was wearing pull-up continence pads (size 3, he tells me). He was on his feet all day, except when he had his lunch. He knew that his pad was wet through and he needed to change it.
Picture the scene – struggling to get your shoes off so you can get out of your jeans, inside a tiny public toilet on a trailer. You feel the relief of putting on a fresh pull-up, before wriggling back into your jeans and shoes.
OMG, what are you going to do with that soaking wet continence pad?
Alan had to walk out of the cubicle carrying his used pad into the public wash basin area, where he was lucky to find a bin for paper towel disposal. Phew.
How would you have felt in Alan’s place? This may be a situation you’ve faced yourself. Public toilets for men don’t always have a bin – many have now switched to electric hand-dryers.
Bins 4 Blokes
For boys and men who use incontinence products, there are very few or no places for them to throw them out. This can make them want to stay put, not wanting to leave their homes and join in everyday activities.
BINS4Blokes is an Australia-wide awareness and advocacy campaign promoting the installation of incontinence bins in male public toilet facilities.
Alan will be going to Canberra in mid June to attend the National General Assembly 2022 of Local Government. He will be part of a contingent from the Continence Foundation of Australia (CFA). They will be liaising with local government officials to promote Bins 4 Blokes.
How you can help
Next time you visit a public toilet in your area, have a look to see if there is a disposal bin for continence products. Let us know what you find.
Just send us an email to let us know the name of your local Council or Shire, along with what you found (or didn’t find) in your local public toilets. Alan and the CFA team can then discuss your findings with representatives from your area.
The Great Dunny Hunt is on AGAIN!
The National Toilet Map is part of the National Continence Program. The National Public Toilet Map shows the location of more than 19,000 public and private public facilities across Australia, including toilets, adult change and baby care. Information is provided about each toilet, such as location, accessibility details, opening hours and features like sharps disposal and showers.
During the Great Dunny Hunt 2022, you can go in the draw to win one of 3 x $500 Eftpos vouchers. For full information, check out the details on the website.
I’ve been fortunate since going back to work – I’ve been able to use mostly clean and spacious workplace toilets to change pads. Also my physio wants me to weigh full pads, so I always have a plastic bag to hide the pad in, and I take it back to my car for later weighing. When going out I’ve taken my kit – 2 spare undies, 4 spare pads and plastic bags. It seems to be OK. Thanks for your article, work place toilets usually have bins, but none have discrete disposal bins like the ladies have.
Ballina Shire, Lismore Shire, Byron Bay Shire , we find nothing in these shires to cater for men’s used pads and is very inconvient when going out night and day. We cannot find out which section of the council handle these items to follow up further, but will keep trying.