Beijing park goes high tech to save toilet paper

Paper dispenser uses facial recognition to record each user and rolls out a strip of about 70cm of paper for one trip

BEIJING: A park in the Chinese capital, Beijing, has found a high-tech solution to stop people from using excessive amounts of toilet paper.

The Temple of Heaven Park has equipped public washrooms with a paper dispenser that uses facial recognition technology to record each user and then roll out a strip of about 70 cm of paper for one trip to the bathroom.

The same user will have to wait for nine minutes before they can get another strip of toilet paper.

"This machine was actually designed in order to stop people from wasting toilet paper," said Lei Zhenshan, a designer and sales executive for dispenser maker Shoulian Technology.

"If the paper was put in an uncontrolled device, then people will waste it endlessly," he told Reuters Television. This month, Chinese media reported that visitors to the park's washrooms were taking unnecessarily large amounts of toilet paper from dispensers.