NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 11 Mar 15;
SINGAPORE — Cleaners with various town councils this year will be given a day off, with residents instead mobilised to clean up their own neighbourhoods, as part of fresh efforts to tackle the littering scourge.
The standard of cleanliness in Singapore has fallen, with surveys showing that from 2006 to 2010, the number of litter items collected almost doubling, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan in Parliament today (March 11).
He joined Members of Parliament who spoke at his Ministry’s Committee of Supply debate in calling for greater civic consciousness, as he signalled his resolve to reduce the littering menace.
Hougang MP Png Eng Huat called for public cleanliness posters, jingles and banners of decades past to be “recycled” this Jubilee year to drive home the message to the community to keep their surroundings clean.
Dr Balakrishnan said campaigns have never stopped. “I think what has changed is behaviour and perhaps our propensity to enforce in the past. But now that we have changed onto a higher enforcement posture, and with more volunteers and with everyone being prepared to exert peer pressure, I’m determined to make a difference on the ground as far as littering is concerned,” he said.
Several new ways to address the littering problem here include equipping enforcement officers with body-worn cameras to document abusive behaviour of litterbugs, providing more training to volunteers, and encouraging organisers to involve participants in cleaning up after major events.
More efforts made to tackle rise in littering
NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 12 Mar 15;
SINGAPORE — With falling standards of cleanliness in Singapore, fresh efforts are being made to tackle the littering scourge, including possibly giving cleaners at various town councils a day off this year and mobilising residents to clean up their neighbourhoods instead.
Surveys showed that the number of litter items collected from 2006 to 2010 had nearly doubled, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan in Parliament yesterday.
He joined Members of Parliament who spoke at his Ministry’s Committee of Supply debate in calling for greater civic consciousness and signalled his resolve to reduce the menace, which contributes to the S$120 million spent cleaning public areas each year.
About 19,000 tickets were issuing for littering last year, almost double that of 2013. Some hot spots are even cleaned once every two hours, Dr Balakrishnan said.
While cleaning regimes will be stepped up, Singapore cannot depend on “an ever-growing army of cleaners”. Citing a survey conduced in 2010 which found that a third of Singaporeans would litter if they thought they could get away with it, Dr Balakrishnan said such an attitude reflects one’s lack of pride in his own country and a lack of respect and consideration for others.
Littering came under the spotlight recently after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several other politicians noted the staggering amount of rubbish left behind at the Laneway Festival in January.
In Parliament yesterday, Hougang MP Png Eng Huat called for public cleanliness posters, jingles and banners of decades past to be “recycled” this jubilee year to drive home the message for the community to keep its surroundings clean.
Dr Balakrishnan said campaigns have never stopped. “I think what has changed is behaviour and perhaps our propensity to enforce ... But now that we have changed to a higher-enforcement posture, and with more volunteers and with everyone being prepared to exert peer pressure, I’m determined to make a difference on the ground as far as littering is concerned,” he said.
New ways to address the littering problem here include equipping enforcement officers with body-worn cameras to document the abusive behaviour of litterbugs, providing more training to volunteers, and encouraging organisers to involve participants in cleaning up after major events.
Body-worn cameras are aimed at preventing cases of abuse. Last April, an enforcement officer who approached someone smoking illegally at a HDB void deck was punched in his right eye. The offender was eventually arrested and sentenced to three months in jail for assault, said Dr Balakrishnan.
The Government will make it easier for the public to provide video and photographic evidence that can be used in court, he said, addressing a point by Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah, who said anyone with a phone that can capture the act of littering in Taipei is part of the enforcement team. Its City Council puts up information online on how to take photos and videos and report the littering act. Fines from any successful prosecution are shared with the informant, said Dr Lee, who was impressed that schools in Taiwan are cleaned by students, instead of cleaners, and by the cleanliness of its streets even early in the morning.
Volunteers in Singapore roped in to get litterbugs to pick up their litter will be given the same training that new officers with the National Environment Agency (NEA) undergo, said Dr Balakrishnan. They will no longer need to be affiliated with a non-government organisation to join. There are today more than 250 volunteers, who have engaged over 800 litterbugs.
High-rise littering is another growing problem, with almost 2,500 complaints received last year, compared with 1,600 in 2013, he said. Using surveillance cameras, the NEA has taken enforcement action in 541 cases that happened last year. Marine Parade GRC MP Tin Pei Ling called for high-rise litterbugs to be named and shamed, given how peer pressure was less applicable in curbing high-rise littering, but Dr Balakrishnan said it was not something he wanted to rush into.
With event organisers encouraged to get participants involved in cleaning up, such as at this year’s National Day Parade, Dr Balakrishnan said he hoped this would help set a new social norm.
'Clean your own neighbourhood day' as part of anti-littering drive
Audrey Tan The Straits Times AsiaOne 13 Mar 15;
Every year, town councils are going to set aside one day when residents will clean their own neighbourhoods. This is part of a plan to battle the ever-mounting litter problem.
Other steps to be taken include officers of the National Environment Agency (NEA) being kitted out with body-worn cameras - like those used by the police - to capture abuse and attacks by people.
"We will also make it easier for members of the public to submit video or photographic evidence which we can use for investigation and prosecution," Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said in Parliament yesterday, when he announced a raft of anti- littering measures being considered by his ministry, which oversees the NEA.
It is also looking at ways to get people to clean up after themselves at major events, including this year's National Day Parade.
"Spectators and participants will be encouraged to clean up the Padang at the end of each show and its fringe celebrations... as a reflection of our national pride."
These moves are prompted by the attention drawn to the issue in January, following Facebook posts from three politicians, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
They had commented on the appalling amount of rubbish left behind by about 13,000 concert- goers at the Laneway Festival at Gardens by the Bay.
Yesterday, Dr Balakrishnan said the standard of cleanliness has fallen, with his ministry's surveys showing that from 2006 to 2010, the litter observed or collected had almost doubled.
The cleaning bill for public places comes to a projected $120 million a year, with some hot spots being cleaned once every two hours, he added.
Responding to Ms Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon GRC), he said the NEA's Community Volunteer Scheme will no longer be just for volunteers of non-governmental organisations such as the Waterways Watch Society and Singapore Kindness Movement.
Others can join as well, and all volunteers will get the same training as new NEA officers, giving them "similar status and authority as a regular NEA officer", he said, adding that the laws will be amended later.
"We must become more like Japan and Taiwan, where it is peer pressure and role modelling that set the standard," he added.
