If you can’t beat them, join them. Paris has done just that by providing public urinators with a more sanitized place to whizz in the open. But not everyone is pleased with public urinals popping up around the City of Love.

A war against street soilage has prompted Paris authorities to roll out a number of devices known as uritrottoirs, which are essentially toilets for urine mounted on top of flower boxes.

READ MORE: If these walls could pee: San Francisco installs urine-repelling walls

The boxes are currently in place on Place Henri Frenay, Square Tino Rossi, Ille Saint-Louis and Boulevard de Clichy, home to the Moulin Rouge and once the subject of renowned artist Vincent van Gogh. According to the Parisian government, the red urine-collection boxes are filled with straw, which will reduce foul smells and, when filled, can be used for fertilizing plants.

Public street urinals installed across Paris – to fight urine odor! pic.twitter.com/VMXvNbLWY4 — RT (@RT_com) August 15, 2018

The novel idea comes from Faltazi, a ecological design company based in Nantes. While the urinals may help to curb unsanitary habits, a number of people have taken to social media to express their concern and poke fun at the project.

Laurence Parisot, former head of employer’s union MEDEF, described the attempt as “elegant crap.”

Mais qu’est-ce que cette très ‘élégante’ nouvelle connerie parisienne ? pic.twitter.com/CgE9UHxjYn — Laurence Parisot (@LaurenceParisot) August 5, 2018

“You really have to have a big prostate problem to choose to relieve yourself there,” another person posted, regarding a urinal placed in the famous tourist hotspot of Boulevard de Clichy.

Il faut vraiment être exhib ou avoir un gros problème de prostate pour choisir de se soulager LÀ #uritrottoirpic.twitter.com/KC5JtPGQnU — Olivier ROY (@OlivierRoyFr) August 11, 2018

Francois Giordano said his main problem with the project was the lack of hand-washing facilities and the risk of indecent exposure. “Their withdrawal is necessary,” he tweeted.

Les #uritrottoirs sont une honte pour #Paris et HIdalgo : 1) absence #hygiène car impossible de se laver les mains 2) atteinte à la #pudeur - les enfants spectateurs de cette indignité 3) risque d'exhibition sexuelle devant des femmes. Leur retrait s'impose. #uritrottoir#shame — Francois GIORDANO (@GIORDANO_dlf) August 14, 2018

Mayor of the 4th District of Paris Ariel Weil has defended the initiative, however, saying the problem is not the uritrottoirs but those who urinate openly on the street.

“The enemy is not the urinal, it’s the urine everywhere,” Weil tweeted.

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