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Fantastic Industrial Design Student Work: A Shovel That Helps Hikers Leave No Trace

Hideaway, by Wilhelm Berbig of the University of Applied Arts Vienna

By Rain Noe - August 11, 2025

in design.edu

This Hideaway shovel is by Wilhelm Berbig, done as an Industrial Design student at the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien (University of Applied Arts Vienna).

In Austria, there are signposted hiking trails where you can bivouac in small abandoned sheds. Savvy hikers on multi-day treks bring their own toilet paper, but these sheds have no bathrooms.

Berbig proposes stocking them with this shovel, in order that hikers can relieve themselves while leaving no trace.

"What makes this spade more suitable for this special application than a standard planting spade is, on the one hand, the deliberately heavy construction for durability and theft protection and, on the other hand, the toilet roll holder integrated into the handle, which unmistakably communicates its purpose."

Although the shovel is super-heavy, Berbig notes that it "does not have to be used for days on end, but is designed to enable even inexperienced users to dig a hole efficiently. The well-dimensioned tread edges on both sides and the 42 mm thick maple wood handle help with this."

He's also thought through the manufacturing: "The spade blade is cut from a standardised steel tube, resulting in hardly any waste, and the tread edges are then bent and the handle holder welded."

Stocking the trail sheds with these shovels, Berbig reckons, would "serve both as a recognition feature and as a subtle reminder of the cycle of nature and is intended to encourage guests to leave no trace."

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Michael DiTullo

8 months ago

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that is one very well designed pooper scooper!

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Travis Peng

8 months ago

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Such a cool idea! But... what if it rains? Nobody likes using soggy toilet paper :/

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- Abe Froman
  
  Travis Peng
  
  8 months ago
  
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  Good point, I'd remove the TP holder since hikers bring their own TP. I'd also add text or international pictograms stamped or routed into the wood to communicate the intended use.
  
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Wilhelm Berbig

8 months ago

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Thank you for mentioning my design Project in your magazine! It summarizes the intention and de Design really well! As a short addition to answer some comments i point out that the aim of the shovel is not to encourage people to poop in the wilderness but rather to support them to do it right, if they are in need. Especially with the dense infrastructure of the alps in mind, most hikers might find their way to a hut with sanitary facilities - which is also more convenient - and therefore will not leave a trace behind anyway. If they have to do so still, then at least well below earth where it rots fast!

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Einar Blixhavn

8 months ago

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I wonder if the designer has contemplated how introducing his design will affect the behaviour of the hikers. Fromy experience, it is polite practice to poop somewhere that is not near to places people gather. I.e just go into the forest when you are far from any house. Also avoid any land where livestock is kept / have access to. Basically, poop quite a disastance away from your final destination, if that does not provide a toilet, and is a structure visited by lots of hikers. Secondary, the showel excuses popping close to the shelter, both because it facilitate it, and because it is heavy, and this will discourage people from going further away.
I'm not saying it is a bad design, I'm just saying that is represents a classic example of the "wicked problem" as Victor Papanek calls it. The problem of wild popping, is it's concentration to one place, and it's vincinity to infrastructure (roads/buildings) One outcome of introducing this shovel, is that the popping will be concentrated, and near infrastructure. It would be functional in places that don't have many visitors. And where digging up the ground wouldn't be a problem. (A cabin in the woods) But I think that's not the kind of place, like the photo in the article shows.

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Chris Simon

8 months ago

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Looks like a nice cat hole shovel made from a tube. And I like the toilet paper handle, because it works to make this a very specific shovel. If you steal it, maybe people will recognize it as not your regular commercial shovel, and you'll get shamed into putting it back where you found it.

That said, the principal problem of pooping in the woods/mountains is not missing a shovel. If you're that far from a porta-potty you're likely bringing your own shovel, No? The biggest problem in NE of the US is the paranoia of digging up someone else's cathole. As a result, I've seen idiots leave the toilet paper (or at least _some_ TP if not _the_ TP) on the top of the filled in hole (personally I just leave a few broken sticks and a rock in some unnatural pattern). It makes an unsightly natural scape to see tufts of TP across a field, but I guess it prevents digging into someone else's $#!t. Now there's a problem. Make a shovel solve that!

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