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How Many Event Portable Toilets Per Person? [Solved]
No matter what type of event you are putting on this should be one of the first questions you try to answer. How many portable toilets do I need?
The fact that you are asking yourself this question is a good first step to ensuring you put on a great event.
Whilst us Brits may "love" a queue you'll be remiss for thinking this applies to portable toilets. Ensuring you get the number of portable toilets spot on will go a long way with your guests.
If you don't, expect them to be frustrated and disgruntled questioning why you didn’t get more.
It is recommended that for every 100 women you hire one portable toilet one per every 425 men and a urinal unit for every 125.
How to calculate number of toilets required
To give you a quick estimate of how many toilets you need you can check out the table below or contact our team on 0800 999 2260. We've been providing event portable toilet hire for over 20 years.
If you wish to figure this out quickly yourself we have two ways to help you. One you can use the Purple Guide toilet ratio guide below to get a feel of how many toilets you might need an your event, alternatively you can use our free toilet hire calculator.
To find out how many toilets you're likely going to need use our toilet hire calculator.
Toilet Ratio Per Person From The Purple Guide
The Purple Guide has been written by and for The Events Industry in consultation with the experts who manage events fill time. The sole aim of the guide is to help those who organise events to effectively manage health and safety, particularly at large-scale music and similar events. Below is their recommended person toilet ratio.
What factors affect how many portable toilets you need?
There are a few factors that go into how many portable toilets you actually need to have for your event. To a certain degree it also depends on the experience you want your guests to have, and of course your budget.
There are 6 mains factors that will influence how many toilets you need.
- Type of event
- Physical size of event – If the event covers a large area you may need to have more toilets in order to spread them out and avoid people getting caught short in areas without facilities.
- Number of guests (obviously)
- Male / Female Split
- Duration of event
- Food & drink (including Alcohol) being served
Short events without refreshments (summer fetes)
For small events that will not run longer than 6 hours with no food or drink being served there are still minimum requirements.
Back to our previous advice - for every 100 women you hire one portable toile, one per every 425 men and a urinal unit for every 125.
So, for example if you were expecting 500 people to attend your event, with an estimated 60/40 female/male split you would need:
3 portable toilets
1 urinal unit
Longer events without refreshments
If your event will last longer than 6 hours you will simply just need to hire more toilets. We recommend that you hire at least one toilet for every 85 female visitors and one portable toilet for every 425 men.
So again, sticking with the same example as above and you were expecting 500 people to attend your event.
Estimated 60/40 female/male split you would need:
4 portable toilets
2 urinal units
Large-scale events with refreshments
If you are organising an event that will last longer than 6 hours AND will be servicing food and drink, you guessed it, you need more portable toilets.
People will be eating and drinking, and will naturally be looking for facilities to use at some point. For this very reason the guidance is that the minimum number of portable toilets you’ll need to provide is one portable toilet for every 75 women and one portable toilet for every 400 men.
Let's say you were putting on a small all-day music event and were expecting 5000 people to attend with a 50/50 split between men and women attendees.
You’re going to need a minimum of:
39 portable toilets
25 urinal units
Here is where you can make a difference though. The minim requirement is just that, this will leave you with long queues and potentially annoyed guests. To make sure they have a good experience you could hire 50 portable toilets for example. This could also lead to a slightly discounted rate from your supplier.
Events with alcohol
Thanks to the effects of alcohol on the human bladder, alcohol plays a distinct role in toilet usage. You have probably heard the term "breaking the seal".
Our experience with these types of events tells us that you’ll need extra toilets, urinals and probably servicing.
It's normally recommended you add an extra 15-20% of portable toilets.
Camping or overnight events (Festivals)
If you are organising a festival or overnight event thing get a little but more complicated.
For example, the toilets will be used at all hours of the day and they will still need maintenance breaks for emptying and cleaning. This will then leave those toilets out of use so you need extra toilets to make up for this temporary shortfall.
If you are putting on a large-scale event such as a festival, we would recommend speaking to our team who will be able to provide you with the best advice.
How many toilets per person at an event?
It doesn't matter how large or small your event is you need to ensure you have the right amount of portable toilets for your attendees. Whether it's 40 guests or 40,000. You can use our toilet ratio guide above to give yourself a rough estimate, but you can also contact our member of our team for some free advice,
How many toilets do you need for 40 people?
We would recommend having at least 1 portable toilets and possibly 1 urinal to efficiently provide portable sanitation for an event of this size. The factors we mentioned above will also play a role. You can use our free toilet calculator, or feel free to contact one of our experts. The below estimates will differ depending on the male/female ratio and whether alcohol is being served.
How many toilets do you need for 100 guests?
For 100 guests we would recommend hiring 1 portable toilet and 1 portable urinal.
How many toilets do you need for 200 guests?
For 200 guests we would recommend hiring 2 portable toilet and 1 portable urinal.
How many portable toilets do you need for 1000 people?
For 1000 guests we would recommend hiring 10 portable toilets and 2 portable urinals.
Don't forget about servicing
Another vital factor is ensuring the portable toilets are maintained efficiently for the duration of the event. Everyone at festivals will have some form of horror story here. You can guarantee everyone will be peaking inside before properly stepping in by the 4th day.
But this can be avoided. If you have ensured you have the right number of portable toilets for your guests you need to make sure they are in good condition.
If every toilet you have is not in a condition to be used, you'll have queues and slightly disgusted guests waiting for you.
A guaranteed weekly portable toilet empty, clean and servicing is included in all our hires. However, for large events such as festivals we would advise at least 1 service be carried out daily to ensure they remain in good condition.
No matter what type of event you are putting on, our team will be able to advise you on the correct number of toilets and servicing frequency you need to ensure a successfully sanitised event.
Remember at D-Tox were fluent in effluent…
