Public toilets, the most inconspicuous place in the city, are the best indicator of social civilization. It is the most basic infrastructure of public convenience and urban construction, which not only improve the environmental hygiene and safety of living, but also reduce the possibility of disease transmission. Over the past five decades, CPC has been investing in the establishment of public toilets along with the expansion of gas stations to provide the general public with convenient services. By providing safe and clean public toilets, CPC supports the people in need. Both long-distance drivers and people returning to their hometowns can find relief for their physiological needs at CPC’s gas stations.
With the development of gender equality and diversity, CPC has expanded the proportion of female toilets to be higher than that of male toilets and has also expanded the construction of parent-child toilets, diaper tables, gender-friendly public toilets and mixed public toilets to provide more space for women and children and establish childcare facilities. As well as providing friendly space for the elderly and the physically challenged through the installation of support facilities and handrails. All of these are part of CPC's customer services, which also demonstrate the values and sustainability beliefs that CPC upholds.
At the time of the closure of public toilets during the Covid-19 Level 3 alert in Taiwan, CPC still opened the door for the convenience of people and insisted on the provision of services. CPC adjusted the inspection frequency of public toilets to conduct cleaning, disinfection, and inspection every 30 minutes to prevent the spread of viruses. In 2021, CEM customer experience management scored 94.8 and public toilet cleaning satisfaction scored 92.6.
In 2021, all 606 public toilets at CPC's directly operated gas stations were rated as super-excellent rank and 914 public toilets at franchised stations were rated as super-excellent rank and good or above. CPC's public toilets provide hand sanitizer, toilet paper, hand towel, hand dryer, toilet seat paper, seat disinfectant, washlets, air purifier*, etc., and are regularly cleaned and disinfected to effectively stopped the spread of bacteria and vectors. In addition to operating its own public toilets at gas stations, CPC has also responded to the Environmental Protection Administration's public toilet promotion and adoption program for three consecutive years since 2019, in line with the United Nations' SDGs, improving environmental hygiene, reducing the discharge of sewage and waste, and increasing recycling and safe reuse rates.
* Not available for general use due to the possibility of theft.
UN-Water Facebook Fan Page
In response to the United Nations' World Toilet Day in 2021, CPC became a member of the United Nations' 75th Anniversary Water Resources and Valuing Toilets initiative. Under the leadership of Chairman Shun-chin Lee, the management cleaned up CPC's public toilets, and promoted a partnership to call for the participation of direct, franchised, and distributed gas station partners of the CPC system, mobilizing over 5,000 employees and franchisees from 10 business branches and 1,899 CPC gas stations across Taiwan to join the event, which received appeals from the heads of counties and cities across Taiwan. From internal to external partnerships, CPC has demonstrated the added value of its business operations to society and the environment, and this is what CPC believes in as part of the sustainable development.
Blessings from Mayors and Administrators
In addition to environmental sanitation, CPC has also spared no effort in mitigating climate change. In order to reduce the impact of public toilet buildings on the environment, CPC has taken the lead in introducing green building design principles for public toilet. In 2021, the public toilet at CPC's Zhuangwei Station was certified as a green building by the Ministry of the Interior.
CPC promoted the "Sterilization, Planting, Standing and Sustaining" project to improve the barrier-free facilities required by different communities. The project also facilitated greening and planting in public toilets to improve the indoor and outdoor air quality. The project has been extended from CPC's directly operated stations to franchised stations with regular evaluation and competition to improve the quality of public toilets in gas stations throughout Taiwan. In some communities, the environment of public toilets has been transformed into community green cultural and creative art galleries by displaying school children's paintings.