Fewer people caught littering on New Year's Eve

Evelyn Choo Channel NewsAsia 1 Jan 11;

SINGAPORE : Fewer people were caught littering on New Year's Eve compared to the previous year.

National Environment Agency (NEA) officers were on the prowl for litterbugs islandwide. At the end of their blitz on Friday night, 74 littering tickets were issued, down almost 40 per cent from last year's figure of 116.

During NEA's Orchard Road blitz, the first culprit nabbed turned out to be a tourist, who was let off with a warning.

Otherwise, first-time offenders could be fined S$300 for throwing items like sweet wrappers and cigarette butts. Larger items like food wrappers and drink cups warrant a higher penalty of S$1,000, plus a Corrective Work Order.

At the stroke of midnight at Orchard Road, people unleashed spray cans of foam and confetti everywhere. Cleaning companies were given the tight deadline of cleaning the area by Saturday morning.

The NEA said it does not generally take action against those who use party spray cans during festive periods, but asked that the items be disposed of properly.

At the end of the Orchard Road blitz, eight people were caught.

Teh Chun Siong, manager of operations at National Environment Agency, said: "Most people are taking more responsibility not to litter this year; they are continuing to keep the environment clean and green.

"NEA also worked with event organisers to put in more additional workers to keep the place clean and empty bins throughout the event."

With more workers on shift on Friday night, cleaning contractors got busy right after the partying.

Alia Jiffry, public relations officer at Purechem Veolia Environmental Services, said: "(The items included) cans, bottles, tissue paper. But the most challenging for us are the planted areas, because our workers have to go there and dig up all the litter."

By 6am, refuse collected in Orchard Road amounted to 2.8 tonnes, significantly less than the 3.7 tonnes collected last year.

- CNA/ms

After the big party, it's the big clean-up
However, less litter this year for cleaners of New Year countdown mess
Lester Kok Straits Times 3 Jan 11;

FOR many people, the New Year countdown marked not only the close of 2010 but also the end of the night's partying.

For those responsible for cleaning up, however, it was just the start of a hectic working day.

At 2am on Saturday, Orchard Road was strewn with drink cans, disposable cups, cigarette butts, confetti and party poppers.

Just two hours later, almost all the evidence that a party had taken place had vanished as if by magic.

This was not just down to the efficiency of the cleaners.

Partygoers also appeared to have helped by dropping less litter than last year.

In Orchard Road, 2.6 tonnes of rubbish was collected on Saturday, a third less than the 3.67 tonnes collected after the 2009 countdown party.

It was also less than half of the six tonnes collected after the Christmas Eve celebrations two weeks earlier.

Even before the party officially ended at 2am, janitors from Purechem Veolia Environmental Services, the company responsible for keeping Orchard Road spick and span, had already started work.

They picked and swept up litter, emptied and cleaned the bins, and drove sweeper vans to clean the roads.

Cleaners from Veolia were seen cycling around on tricycles with carts of trash bags, cleaning out bins one by one throughout the wee hours.

By 3am, almost all traces of litter were gone, except for a few strands of confetti and the odd party popper.

At 4am, workers with water jets started scouring the last remaining bits of dirt from the streets.

Efficiency is key to a clean Singapore, but the janitors The Straits Times spoke to said having less litter helped too.

The supervisor in charge of housekeeping for Ngee Ann City and its Civic Plaza, who gave his name only as Andrew, was surprised there was much less litter.

'Last year, we had all four rubbish bins (dumpster type) full of rubbish, but this year, we have only half a bin,' said the 26-year-old.

Having more hands also helped.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) worked with event organisers to put in extra workers to clean and empty bins.

While the main party was over by 2am, there was a smaller event going on at *Scape organised for 14- to 25-year-olds.

Named 'Get the Funk Out 2010/2011', it was attended by about 3,000 partygoers and went on until 4am.

When the lights were turned on, confetti whistles and empty drink cans were seen lying on the ground.

However, organisers said it was not that much litter when you consider how many items were handed out.

Miss Althea Lim, project manager from The Youth Empire - a private organisation known for youth-oriented events - said it had earlier given the crowd about 3,000 cans of drink, 6,000 lightsticks, party poppers and whistles.

Miss Lim still felt that 'Singapore has a pretty serious problem on littering', compared to countries such as Australia where people are more civic-minded.

However, the littering problem does seem to be improving.

On Friday night, NEA issued 74 littering tickets in the whole of Singapore - 36 per cent less than the 116 in 2009. At Orchard Road, only eight tickets were issued during the enforcement blitz from 9pm to 11pm.

Mr Wilson Ang, founder of Environmental Challenge Organisation (ECO) Singapore, agreed that people were becoming more conscious of the environment.

He said education efforts such as ECO's Dunk It! Programme and the work of other non-governmental organisations such as WaterWays Watch Society, 'are beginning to pay off', adding: 'You can see people holding on to their trash consciously and placing it in the litter bins around them.'