Going to the bathroom is a natural part of life, but for some reason human waste has been in the news a little too much in the last week. First we learned that a company in England was is using human feces to power a bus, and now Kohler has released an odor-eating toilet seat aimed at ridding restrooms across the country of the smell produced when we go number two.

The Associated Press reports that the latest invention in toilet seats – the Purefresh – aims to eliminate the odors left behind in the bathroom to make the experience, you know, more pleasant. And maybe make cohabitation easier for everyone.

The seat, which went on sale earlier this month, contains a fan hidden in a battery-operated seat that sucks in air and pushes it through an odor-eating carbon filter and an optional scent pack.

Officials with Kohler tell the AP that the toilet works to attack smells “where the action is.”

To do so, the seat turns on automatically when a user sits down. The fan then emits a light hum as it filters odors.

The seat, which requires two D batteries to do its job, employs scent packs similar to what might be found in car air fresheners, the AP reports.

Just like the air fresheners used in cars and in homes, the ones used inside the toilet seat must be replaced periodically. The scents, Garden Waterfall, Soft and Fresh Laundry or Avocado Spa, provide about a month’s worth of fragrance.

In addition to wiping out bathroom odors, the Purefresh seat also includes two LED light settings to make sure consumers make their way to the restroom without incident in the middle of the night.

Kohler isn’t the only company to get on the odor-free bathroom bandwagon.

The AP reports that San Francisco-based Brondell introduced a similar seat in 2006, but pulled it from the markets because costs to produce the device were too high.

While we haven’t tried the seat for ourselves, we’re sure someone out there is rushing to put the device on their holiday shopping list, because, after all, who needs the hottest electronic for the holidays when you can get a odor-eating toilet seat?

Bothered by bathroom odors? Wisconsin-based Kohler introduces no-smell toilet seat [The Associated Press]

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