Toilet humour plumbs new depths
The first documented portable toilets are attributed to the 1940s ship-building yards of Long Beach, California. They were designed at the request of a ship building company that realised how much time was wasted when workers had to leave the ships and go to the docks to spend a penny or two.
The ship builder asked the company who had been employed to empty the holding tanks of the permanent dock toilets if they could design something that would be able to be placed on the ships, on a temporary basis, whilst they were being built.
The result was a wooden cabana, or hut, that incorporated a small holding tank below the portals.
And thus, the foundations were laid for the portable toilets we know today – festivals would never be the same.
To begin with, portable toilets, or portaloos as they’re now often called, were made from wood and metal which presented numerous problems. They were difficult to transport, difficult to keep hygienic, and absorbed odours. Imagine the smell on the last day of Glastonbury, multiplied …
Not nice.
By the early 70s, fibreglass portaloos were introduced. Although these were much lighter than their wood and metal forebears, they still retained the problem of absorbing odours in the cabin and holding tank, and also presented a need for greater maintenance due to the brittle nature of the fibreglass.
In the mid-70s it was found that polyethylene would be the perfect material to make portable toilets from as it is non-porous, non-absorbant and much easier to clean. They were right, and to this day, polyethylene is the most popular material for rotationally moulded portaloos to be made from.
Since its inception the portaloo has been a rip-roaring success. The ability to have a self-contained toilet, with no moving parts and no need for a power source has made life on building sites and festival camp-sites around the world much more pleasant.
So much so, that the Danish music festival Roskilde, was itself behind a giant leap in portaloo technology recently, when they commissioned the creation of the Pollee; a portaloo specifically for women with the intention of reducing queueing times at the festival.
Indeed, in addition to the Pollee, there are myriad executive and luxury options available these days when it comes to the unavoidable times when you need to relieve yourself in a field or on a film set. Portaloos have been made with running hot water, air conditioning and heating, interior and exterior halogen lights, fully flushing porcelain toilets, sensor taps, CD & radio sound systems, full wall mirrors and even toilet attendants!
With so much innovation in the field of portable toilets, for the past 40 years, one thing has remained a staple; the outer shell is generally made from polyethylene. Rotationally moulded polyethylene none the less.
At Corilla, we have rotational moulding machines and tooling that will meet even the largest toilet requirements.
In addition to this, inclusion of antimicrobial and scent technology within the moulding itself, helps us to provide the safest and sweetest smelling portaloo you will ever spend time on.
And as Corilla Plastics are experts in the field of the rotational moulding of plastics, with all of the necessary tools to fulfil even the largest portacabin needs, who better to satisfy all of your portaloo manufacturing needs?
Give us a call today and see what we can do for you.