Let’s tr(a)y it again ...
Alicia Wong and Jessica Teo, Today Online 17 Sep 08;
WHEN it was first tried out at a hawker centre in 2003, it was dropped after six months because Singaporeans preferred having someone else clean up after them.
But soon, the tray return system could make a reappearance at some hawker centres here.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Kindness Movement are looking to reintroduce the scheme to encourage considerate behaviour, revealed Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor yesterday in Parliament.
Speaking to Today, she said they hope to run it at perhaps Zion Riverside food centre or Bedok food centre by the end of this year.
“The idea is to use the learning points to see how we can further introduce the system at other centres,” she added.
She told Parliament that the 2003 trial at Zion Road failed because patrons preferred having cleaners to clear their trays. She told Today that patrons also indicated there were not enough tray racks.
So, this time round, the NEA will provide more racks at convenient locations and more officers during the first few weeks of implementation, to remind patrons to clear up.
The NEA will also provide posters, signs and table-top decals, as it did previously.
While providing adequate facilities is important, it would not be possible at some centres due to space constraints, said Dr Khor. But if the system is introduced to all hawker centres, “we will as far as possible work around the physical limitations”.
Student Yane Lee, 18, agreed with the need for more convenient counters. “If there are 1,000 people in the food court, I’m not walking all the way back to return my tray,” she said.
Dr Khor, however, stressed that Singaporeans must also want to change and desire a more gracious society: “We are under no illusions it will happen overnight.”
To a concern raised by one MP, Dr Khor gave the assurance that older workers would still be needed to ensure the tables are clean, even if the system is established.
