A park in Beijing has installed toilet paper dispensers with facial recognition to stop visitors from taking too much loo roll.

Machines at the Temple of Heaven park scan visitors’ faces before dispensing a 60cm (24in) strip of paper.

The tourist attraction is reportedly frequented by visitors who take large amounts of loo roll home.

It has reignited debate over the lack of social graces among some Chinese.

Flushed with success

Park officials have installed six machines at its public bathrooms as a trial, with staff on standby to explain the technology to visitors.

The machines, placed at the average heights for men and women, will not dispense the same person more paper until after nine minutes have passed.

“If we encounter guests who have diarrhoea or any other situation in which they urgently require toilet paper, then our staff on the ground will directly provide the toilet paper,” a park spokesman told.

Earlier this month, visitors to the Temple of Heaven park’s toilets were taking excessive amounts of toilet paper, some of whom were seen stuffing their bags.

The park has been aware of this problem for years, which began shortly after it started dispensing free toilet paper in 2007.

It has put up posters as well as broadcast messages on its public announcement system exhorting visitors to use less paper.

The trial appears to have had initial success – the park said the daily amount of toilet paper used in its toilets has gone down by 20%.

But it has also had teething problems. Reports said that the machines, which take between 10 and 30 seconds to scan a face, had resulted in long queues for the toilets.

Beijing News said that two machines had also broken down during a recent visit over the weekend.=DNA

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