Poland’s soccer team may suck, but the co-host of the 2012 UEFA Euro championships wants to make sure the toilets sparkle.
Arkadiusz Choczaj, leader of the so-called "Clean Patrol" campaign, told reporters in Warsaw,
"Our toilets are better prepared for these championships than our football players.”
"Clean Patrols", made up of volunteer inspectors dressed in white overalls, recently sniffed around 200 public toilets in six Polish cities slated as Euro 2012 venues or back-ups. The "Clean Patrol" project was co-sponsored by CWS-boco, a sanitary products supplier.
Public potties were rated on accessibility, hygiene, smell and whether toilet paper, soap and hand towels were available.
Just one toilet scored a perfect 100 points, while a three-quarters majority rated 65 points, the basic acceptable standard.
Loos in airports, hotels, restaurants and cafes were rated the highest by both the patrols and tourists surveyed by the independent TNS OBOP pollsters. Poland’s tourist-magnet southern city of Krakow received the highest ratings.
At the bottom of the rankings were a quarter of public restrooms — in train and bus stations, on trains and in camp grounds — rated as danger zones by the patrols and foreign tourists alike.
Jan Orgelbrand, head of Poland’s Chief Sanitary Inspectorate said,
"Regardless of the Euro finals, we have to improve standards because, let’s face it, we want to live in a country that doesn’t stink.”
"Not every football fan or tourist will get to the stadium, but all will visit our public lavatories and their standard speaks about Poland as a nation."