Hygiene-Beutel 02

How many ladies' loos have the sort of bin depicted on this bag?

Hygiene-Beutel, Café Reinhard, Cologne, Germany

Beats me why these sanitary bags have Red Cross crosses on them. Use them only if you're wounded?

Hygiene-Beutel (Wagner Festspielhaus)

I must admit a twinge of disappointment when I first saw this bag.

It's from the Wagner concert hall in that citadel of German culture, Bayreuth. I had hoped for pictures of sopranos, or at least a relevant snippet from a Wagner opera - something from one of the Valkyries, perhaps.

After all, tickets to the annual operatic extravaganza cost a fortune and are sold only to a privileged few.

But no, this is a standard-issue bag, with nothing to show where it came from.

For those collectors who would never be allowed near the hallowed ground around Wagner's hilltop shrine, it may be some comfort to know that the upper crust's cubicles also are equipped with metal bins.

Hygiene-Beutel (Kreishaus Bergisch Gladbach)

A new, more stylized toilet bowl design. And the bin has swapped places with the loo!

Hygiene-Beutel 03

Why is it that sanibags are language-rich (this one has German, English, French, Italian, Turkish and what I guess is Croat). But airsickness bags, where the clientele is much more likely to be international, are mostly mono- or bilingual.

Hygiene-Beutel (Ministry of Consumer Affairs)

Bigger hot-cross bun on this bag.

Hygiene-Beutel, Bochum, Germany

Another bag from the Ruhr University in Bochum. This one has instructions in German, English, French, Italian, Turkish, and (believe it or not) Esperanto.

The English harks back to a forgotten age: "Please do not throw in WC., but in the pail, will be removed by chamber maid!"

The flip side features a tree with the slogan (in German): "Paper: Eco Logical". Looks like the chamber maids in Bochum have been trained in recycling these bags and their contents.

Hygiene-Beutel (Ministry of Consumer Affairs)

Big hot-cross bun on this bag.

Hygiene-Beutel Cologne station, Germany

Like the Bochum bag above, but the logo on the reverse is placed differently. 

Hygiene-Beutel Cropius-Halle, Berlin

I've never worked out why these sanitary bags have a Red Cross symbol on them. Any ideas?

Hygiene-Beutel (plastic)

Same basic design as the bags above, but now in plastic.

Hygiene-Beutel (gold)

The first-class version.

Hygiene-Beutel (man with bottle)

The symbol on this bag shows a male disposing of a bottle into a large litterbin.

Hygiene-Beutel Die Umweltschonende Verpackung

Lebensmittelecht mit Wasserfarben bedruckt: translates as "Printed with water-soluble, food-suitable inks..." I'm still trying to work out why.

Hygiene-Beutel 01

In German, English, French, Italian and Dutch.

Hygiene-Beutel für Damenbinden Max Planck Institut

This is the bag that top German scientists use to dispose of bacteriological waste. Instructions in six languages.

Hygiene-Beutel für Damenbinden

"Please do not throw in WC but in the pail". Not that I've ever been in very many women's loos, but I've never seen a pail in one...