Lavatory design
 

There is a lot of talk about how dirty aircraft seats, seat-back trays and screens are, but little about the most obvious place, Why, oh why, don't they have a trash bin in lavatories with just a hole and no cover, so much easier and more hygienic to use. Also, how about automatic hand- sanitizer dispensers? Miniature hand-dryer to reduce use of paper ??

This one is heading over to the lovely people of Travelbuzz, who I'm sure can take the topic further.

CWS/mod

Just my thoughts:
bin: probably because turbulences
soap: lack of standard refillers across the world; cost?
dryer: ever used one in e.g. trains? Painfully slow, noisy and another source of germs ;)

I also use the used paper towels to wash up a lil bit.

Hand dryers are horrible. Lots of studies show that all they do is blow germs into the air and aerosolize them, so you can breathe them in and get sick.

Paper towels come from wood, which can be grown, harvested, and regrown just like wheat or corn.

I like hand dryers. Especially blade, they are cool

Air dryers air proven to spray the user with fecal bacteria. And hospitals have had problems with complex automatic dispensers and valves, because there are parts that are impossible to clean.

I think simple valves and paper towels are the most sanitary.

I thought the spring-loaded cover over the waste bin was to help mitigate any potential fires. It would deplete the waste receptacle of oxygen to help snuff out the fire and aren't the bins also rigged with their own, automatic fire extinguisher sprays inside?

On Singapore Airlines, they have a nifty little floor pedal that you step on to open the receptacle. You drop in your waste, take your foot off the pedal, and it snaps shut. How civilized!

Besides all the other things already mentioned, hand dryers take up space, which is already in short supply. The blades are LOUD, and I find them unbearable on land. In the old days, when many more women used hair spray, the hand dryers would ensure that the smell and spray were amplified (heat) and thoroughly distributed. Ditto perfume.

wg

I flew Philippine Airlines recently and they also had the foot pedal to open the bin