Open Projects

Low-Fee, Continuously Maintained Showers and Toilets at Every Public Beach

Summary

Every beach with public beach status should be required to provide hygienic toilets and showers in numbers that match its capacity. Users would pay a small, symbolic fee. The fee discourages waste, and all of the money goes straight into keeping these facilities clean, staffed and maintained around the clock. The problem gets a permanent, sustainable fix that adds no burden to the public budget.

Problem

Many public beaches across the country have no adequate, working toilet and shower facilities. Where facilities do exist, poor hygiene and maintenance often leave them unusable.
When people cannot meet basic needs at the beach, the result is serious pollution and a public health risk. In one example, people have relieved themselves into PET bottles and left them on the beach, which is shameful.
This pollution harms the country’s tourism image and public order.
Experience shows that when these services are completely free, water and resource waste goes up, facilities are damaged within a short time, and cleaning cannot be kept up consistently.

Proposed Solution

Make the following measures mandatory through legislation and administrative decisions:

Mandatory infrastructure standards: Every area with public beach status must install hygienic toilet and shower cabins in numbers suited to its capacity.
Low-fee model to prevent waste: These services are offered for a symbolic (small) fee, which prevents waste of resources and makes users more aware of how they use them.
Sustainable maintenance and cleaning: The symbolic revenue goes directly to funding round-the-clock (24/7) hygiene inspection of these facilities, permanent staff and periodic maintenance.

How It Works

flowchart TD
    A["Small, symbolic usage fee"] --> B["Funds 24/7 hygiene inspection, permanent staff and periodic maintenance"]
    A -.-> W["Discourages water and resource waste"]
    B --> C["Clean, working toilets and showers"]
    C --> D["People use them, so there is no pollution on the beach"]
    D --> E["Sustained with no burden on the public budget"]
    E --> A

Component	What it does	Why it matters
Capacity-based infrastructure	Hygienic toilets and shower cabins sized to each public beach’s capacity	Meets basic needs where people actually are, so there is no pollution on the beach
Symbolic usage fee	Users pay a small fee for each use	Prevents water and resource waste and builds a sense of responsible use
Earmarked revenue	Fee income is tied directly to the facilities it comes from	Funds 24/7 hygiene inspection, permanent staff and periodic maintenance without burdening the public budget

The fee does not exist to make a profit. It is the tool that keeps the facilities working: it limits misuse and waste, and it pays for the cleaning and maintenance that free facilities have not been able to keep up.

Implementation & Phasing

Set standards: Define national standards for public beach sanitation infrastructure, covering the number of toilets and showers relative to capacity and the hygiene criteria.
Make it mandatory: Turn these standards into requirements through legislation and administrative decisions.
Instruct operators: Direct the relevant municipalities and institutions responsible for public beaches to install and run the facilities under the low-fee model.
Sustain operations: Put fee revenue directly toward continuous hygiene inspection, staffing and periodic maintenance.

Stakeholders & Benefits

Implementing stakeholders

Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (Türkiye): responsible for the Coastal Law, the use of coastal areas, and environmental and public health standards.
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Türkiye): responsible for tourism standards and hygiene criteria at public beaches, and runs the “Free Public Beach” projects.
Municipalities (and relevant governorships): directly responsible for the daily operation and infrastructure services of the beaches in their areas.

Benefits

Protects public health.
Prevents environmental pollution on beaches and coasts.
Supports good-quality use of the coasts and a better tourism image and public order.
Pays for itself through the fees, with no extra burden on the public budget.

Risks & Mitigations

Risk	Mitigation
Free facilities lead to water and resource waste	A symbolic usage fee discourages waste and encourages responsible use
Facilities get damaged within a short time	Fee revenue funds periodic maintenance and permanent staff
Cleaning cannot be kept up consistently	Revenue is earmarked for 24/7 hygiene inspection and continuous cleaning

Keywords: public beaches, sanitation, public toilets, coastal management, tourism, hygiene, user fees, public health, environmental pollution

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Origin

Originally drafted by Merih İlgör as a public policy proposal (August 2026); published here as an open project idea.

License

This project idea is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for non-commercial use. Commercial use requires a revenue-share agreement; see COMMERCIAL-LICENSE.md. Modified versions may not be sold or transferred to third parties as new ideas, and patent-like rights are reserved; see COMMERCIAL-LICENSE.md.