Council formed to keep Singapore clean

Hoe Yeen Nie Channel NewsAsia 27 Sep 11;

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) has formed a new Public Hygiene Council, in its latest effort to keep Singapore clean.

It wants Singaporeans to stop littering and practise good hygiene by influencing public attitudes.

The Public Hygiene Council, chaired by Khoo Teck Puat Hospital CEO Liak Teng Lit, comprises 21 individuals representing the public sector, environment groups and related industries.

They include Ms Tan Puay Hoon, president of the Restroom Association (Singapore), Mr Eugene Heng, chairman of the Waterways Watch Society, Dr Foo Suan Fong, principal of Dunman High School and Mr Edward Goh, chief operating officer of Purechem Veolia Environmental Services.

The plan is to tap their collective experience for ideas, which will in turn complement NEA's initiatives.

The NEA already has a whole slew of campaigns, from anti-littering to getting people to use public toilets more responsibly.

But it said there is a limit to their effectiveness, and in order to see progress, behaviour and attitudes need to change. That is where the council comes in.

Streets will continue to be swept, and strict penalties against offenders will still apply.

But there will now be a more coordinated attempt at changing public behaviour through the community.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said: "I still believe we need to make sure it is clean in the morning; you still need to maintain that.

"If a person is habitually anti-social, I need to make sure there is a high probability that he will be caught.

"Thirdly and most importantly, I want his neighbours to care. And frankly, neighbours know who are the guilty ones."

Public Hygiene Council chairman Liak Teng Lit said: "Every single Singaporean really needs to take ownership.

"Do the right thing, and advocate for it, stand up for it. When people do not do the right thing, they really ought to be able to stand forward and say, that's not right."

The council is inviting feedback on its website, www.publichygienecouncil.sg.

-CNA/wk

New council to tackle littering, hygiene issues
Esther Ng Today Online 28 Sep 11;

SINGAPORE - One in four Singaporeans know it is an offence to litter but will do so out of convenience, while one in a hundred will litter regardless of the consequences.

These are some of the findings a sociological study commissioned by the National Environment Agency (NEA) has found, and are due to be released next month.

To tackle the scourge of littering, as well as other public hygiene challenges such as dirty toilets, a newly formed Public Hygiene Council will work with the NEA and other Government agencies to get Singaporeans to be more civic conscious.

The 21-member council comprise stakeholders from the private sector - such as food court operator Koufu, the Singapore Hotel Association and Purechem Veolia Environmental Services - as well as representatives from Government bodies.

And it has set the bar very high. "We need to reach the standard of Japan or Northern Europe or Korea, and we must not settle for less," said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan who was present at the launch of the council at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital yesterday.

"It's not enough to be clean in some areas, and have a mess in certain areas. So the difference this time round, we're going to do an all out blitz on all areas and involving all stakeholders."

Over the next few months, the council will garner feedback from the public and work with stakeholders to "promote best practices" and outreach efforts, said NEA's chief executive Andrew Tan, who added that the council's promotional efforts will complement the agency's regulatory role.

Mr Tan noted that there is "no single formula" to tackle cleanliness and littering problems, but rather by a combination of enforcement, education, provision of rubbish bins and a cleaning regime.

"It's a community of best practices that we can promote around the island by the different stakeholders who can achieve a certain tipping point and establish a new social form that we can then all follow," he said.

Lamenting that Singapore has a "first world infrastructure" but a "third world behaviour", the council's chairman Liak Teng Lit urged Singaporeans to keep the country clean just as they would their "homes and bedroom".

"Every single Singaporean really needs to take ownership," Mr Liak said.

"Do the right thing, and advocate for it, stand up for it.

"When people do not do the right thing, they really ought to be able to stand forward and say, that's not right."

New council rolls up sleeves for dirty job
Littering and filthy public toilets among problems it will tackle
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 28 Sep 11;

FOUR in 10 people in Singapore would litter if they knew they could get away with it, a National Environment Agency (NEA) survey found. Another finding: The state of public toilets is 'appalling'.

These results were cited by a new Public Hygiene Council launched yesterday in another renewed push to raise cleanliness standards in Singapore.

The 21-strong council is made up of representatives from schools, the hotel and restroom associations, environmental organisations, government departments and hospitals.

Mr Liak Teng Lit, chair of the council and chief executive of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, said that bringing all the relevant groups together would improve future cleanliness campaigns.

The council hopes to pick up the work where fines and penalties end, to keep Singaporeans' bad habits in check.

And even though the NEA has an array of campaigns, from anti-littering to promoting clean public toilet habits, the council plans to step in by pooling together the expertise of hotels, schools and others to bring about a change in behaviour.

So, to deal with dirty toilets, for example, the council will tap the advice of the Restroom Association as well as operators of foodcourts and restaurants. The hope: with more heads and hands on deck, the cleaner that deck will be.

It plans to conduct studies on hygiene and littering and wants to get feedback through its website www.publichygienecouncil.sg and Facebook page www.facebook.com/publichygienecouncil.

'All this will help move the council away from the more top-down approach of the past,' said Mr Liak.

The council's members are appointed by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. The ministry will oversee any funding request from the council.

For now, its first priority is public toilets, especially those at coffee shops and hawker centres. Ms Tan Puay Hoon, president of the Restroom Association, said she was ashamed to take overseas guests to these toilets because of their condition.

She added: 'The floors are often wet and slippery and it's dangerous for the elderly and children.'

The council has started consulting stallholders and will announce an education campaign by year-end.

It also intends to put a lid on the littering problem.

For example, it wants to focus on improving habits at HDB lift landings, where refuse tends to collect. It will also go beyond educational efforts by looking at the design of bins. The small openings may be a reason for people dumping trash at the side rather than into the bins.

Even though the number of litterbugs caught dropped by half, to 7,500, in the first half of this year compared to last year, there is a growing perception that Singapore is getting dirtier.

The NEA's chief, Mr Andrew Tan, agreed that there was such a view, given the number of Forum page letters focusing on the subject in recent months.

But he felt that the perception could also have come about because the littering problem was worse in high-traffic places such as bus stops and interchanges, Orchard Road, Little India, Chinatown and East Coast Park.

Associate Professor Paulin Straughan, vice-dean of the arts and social sciences faculty at the National University of Singapore, said people could also be getting more cunning at avoiding being caught.

She cited the NEA survey she led, which found that four in 10 of the 4,400 respondents polled would litter if they believed they would not be caught.

The survey's full findings will be compiled into a book to be launched next month.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan lauded the council's goals and said people could help keep Singapore litter-free by taking care of their own neighbourhoods.

'If you see your neighbour littering, remind him not to do so,' he said.

Council member Leo Yee Sin, head of the infectious disease department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said good hygiene is essential because Singapore's small size means disease outbreaks could spread more quickly than in other countries.

Mr Liak said residents need to help clean up the country and not rely on professional cleaners.

'We have a First World country's infrastructure but we look like a Third World country sometimes,' he added.

Singapore's First Public Hygiene Council Calls For A New National Passion For Good Hygiene
NEA Press Release 27 Sep 11;

Singapore, 27 Sept 2011 -- The newly launched Public Hygiene Council calls on the public to be “passionate” about good hygiene practices, both in the area of personal and public hygiene. This is particularly important in an urbanised, densely populated country like Singapore.

The Council will promote a process of engagement with society, which aims to spread good hygiene practices and where the public makes a stand on what they are prepared to do to sustain and improve personal and public hygiene standards and practices. Through this process, the Council also hopes to rally the community to stand resolute against poor public hygiene habits, such as littering and poor toilet user behaviour.

Outreach and Obtaining Feedback

Utilising a variety of platforms, the Public Hygiene Council seeks to gather ideas suggestions and feedback from the public on hygiene issues. The Council also seeks to grow a community of practitioners and advocates by calling on individuals and groups to learn from best practices and do their part to stamp out bad hygiene practices.

Among these, there will be focus group discussions with the different stakeholders to develop relevant educational campaigns, as well as networking and sharing sessions to share best practices on instilling good hygiene practices. Public and stakeholder groups can also provide their feedback through behavioural studies, which the Council intends to use to gain insights on the current standards of hygiene in Singapore. Online polls and forum discussions on various public hygiene issues would also be organised to seek feedback, obtain suggestions for improvement, as well as organise various activities and programmes.

Chairman of the Public Hygiene Council, Mr Liak Teng Lit, said, “I think many in Singapore want a cleaner and more hygienic environment and everyone has a part to play to achieve this goal. There needs to be ownership of hygiene issues. The Council cannot do it alone. We want to call upon like-minded people to join us in our efforts towards a cleaner and more hygienic environment for all.”

A Concerted Effort for a Cleaner Singapore

The Public Hygiene Council comprises passionate individuals from various sectors of the community, including, non-governmental organisations, government, media and education.

The Council believes that a cleaner and more hygienic environment is within Singapore’s reach, and it hopes that more people in society will participate collectively towards this goal by carrying out one good hygiene practice a day, such as picking up a piece of litter.