Twenty-four public toilets in Qingdao, Shandong province, started providing free toilet paper on June 15. However, according to the janitors, most of the toilet paper is not used for the purpose intended and people remove it from the public conveniences. This waste of resources is because people are putting their own interests above the public goods, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

Though it might not seem that important that a public toilet provides free toilet paper, it is a human-oriented measure for people's convenience. To some extent, it is even an advance for society.

Today, most Chinese families have sufficient material well-being, it is impossible that they cannot afford a roll of toilet paper. Therefore, we should try to figure out why people are taking the toilet paper.

In fact, whenever it comes to public property, man-made damage and waste can be found everywhere to different degrees, from people ruining the grass in parks, doodling on walls in public areas to dining extravagantly at public expense. The "freeloader" mentality has somehow given precedence to private benefit over public interests, and led to the absence of social morality among some Chinese citizens.

To reverse this moral degradation, everyone must be self-disciplined.

(China Daily 07/13/2012 page9)