KELLY NG Today Online 1 Aug 15;
SINGAPORE — In a continued call for Singaporeans to take ownership of its environment and community spaces, this year’s Clean & Green Singapore campaign will see some 5,500 new trees planted across the island over the next three months.
Over 20,000 people from grassroots committees, schools and corporations have signed up to participate in this mass planting exercise, the largest in Singapore’s history, which will take place at more than 60 locations such as parks and park connectors.
It kicks off today (August 1) at Punggol Promenade with a native Pianggu planted by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.
To celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday, an inaugural Community Garden Festival will be held at HortPark over the first two weekends in September.
Highlights in the raft of festival activities include a rare tour of the Pasir Panjang Nursery, which will give the public a glimpse into behind-the-scenes nursery operations, and a competition which will showcase the longest and heaviest edible crops harvested by local community gardeners.
More details on the festival, such as how to sign up for tours, can be found on www.nparks.gov.sg/hortpark
The campaign line-up continues in October with five district carnivals and culminates in the Clean & Green SG50 Carnival held at a field next to Punggol MRT station.
Non-governmental organisations will be invited to showcase their programmes and initiatives to members of the public at this carnival.
Speaking at a media briefing on the carnival on Tuesday (July 28), Mr Brandon Low, the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Deputy Director for Community and Outreach said the authorities hope to see more ground-up initiatives in the “next leap” for a clean and green Singapore.
“We hope that tapping on the NGOs’ strengths will call on more Singaporeans to take greater ownership of community and shared spaces,” said Mr Low, adding that NEA is still in the midst of finalising the list of non-governmental organisations participating in the carnival.
Updating the media on recent initiatives to encourage the public to reduce waste and care for the environment, the NEA said more than 8,000 people have pledged to practise more than 50,000 “No Waste Days” in their lives, when they make an effort not to waste food and reduce the use of disposables.
Organisations, schools and individuals have also adopted 420 “Bright Spots” to date, where they improve cleanliness and hygiene conditions of selected public spaces.
They include students from Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) who regularly work with cleaners to clear the tables at Adam Road Hawker Centre, and Keppel Land which rallies staff to pick litter in the Tiong Bahru estate.
The agency hopes to achieve 500 “Bright Spots” by the end of this year.
