The Uni has improved its provision of sanitary bins, with bins now available in most bathrooms on campus. There has been an increase of 254 sanitary bins on campus (not including residential colleges) since 2018.
However, in men’s bathrooms, sanitary bins are only present in the accessible toilets. This is another improvement on 2018, when the University did not supply them in men’s toilets at all.
The University’s goal is “to have bins in all female and non-binary toilets and in toilets for people with disabilities, including disability toilets in men’s washrooms,” and it is mostly met. Critic could not find a women’s bathroom without a sanitary bin.
Property Services Division Director Dean Macaulay told Critic that “by about July 2018, we had almost doubled the number of sanitary bins” on campus, although bins were not implemented in men’s bathrooms. “Currently, our standard process is to have bins in all female and non-binary toilets and in toilets for people with disabilities, including disability toilets in men’s washrooms (we do not currently provide sanitary units in other men’s cubicles),” he said in an emailed statement.
“That creates a problem of double need,” said one student who spoke to Critic. “Both disabled and trans students have to use the same cubicle.” They pointed out that this is also a problem with the gender neutral bathrooms on campus, which often double as accessible bathrooms.
Currently, if a masculine presenting menustrator cannot find a gender neutral bathroom, they must find a disabled men’s bathroom in the hopes of guaranteeing a sanitary bin. There is only one gender neutral bathroom in the Link.
Disabled toilets in the men’s section provide access to sanitary disposal in Mellor Labs, Hunter Building ground floor, Health Science Library second floor, and all throughout Castle and Central.
“As part of the rainbow tick recommendations, we are exploring converting more washrooms to non-gender-specific facilities with particular emphasis on The Link and UniPol,” said Dean. This would hopefully create more options for trans men.
The Uni spends $4478 a month servicing these bins, including the related air freshener units and nappy bins. Most of the 803 sanitary disposal units are serviced monthly, plus 761 units in residential colleges. Areas that experience a higher flow are serviced fortnightly.