A dual-flush toilet is a variation of the flush toilet that uses two buttons or a handle mechanism to flush different amounts of water. A lesser amount of water is designed to flush liquid waste and the larger quantity of water designed to flush solid waste.
The system was developed by Japanese sanitary product manufacturer TOTO in 1960. It was equipped with two levers and built-in hand-washer, and was also revolutionary in that it reused the water in the hand-washer for flushing. However, it was not well known outside, or even within, Japan. In 1976, American industrial designer Victor Papanek proposed the dual flush system in his book Design for the real world, but the first practical implementation was designed in 1980, by staff at the Australian sanitary-ware company Caroma, with flush volumes of 11 and 5.5 litres. The design caught on, and a redesign in 1994 cut water usage to 6 and 3 litres.The dual-flush toilet has become almost universally adopted in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Israel, with its use in new buildings often mandated by legislation in those countries. The more complex dual-flush mechanism is more expensive than many other types of low-flush toilets.
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