Seattle gives up on high-tech toilets

SEATTLE, May 20 (UPI) -- Seattle has abandoned its $5 million "experiment" with high-tech self-cleaning public toilets.

The city council voted Monday to shut down the toilets by July 1, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday. Five of automated toilets had been installed around the city.

"I don't know if we'll put them on eBay or what," said Andy Ryan, a spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities.

The city had planned to spend another $5 million on high-tech toilets over the next five years. But a recent report described the toilets as "crime magnets" and said old-fashioned public johns with stalls are more cost-effective.

Council President Richard Conlin described the "experiment" as important.

"But, unfortunately, one that did not work as we had hoped it would," he said. "The problems that we were seeing were greater than the benefits people were receiving from these particular facilities."

The toilets have a door that opens automatically after a certain length of time and a system that cleans the inside before the next user arrives.