Posted on 04/08/2024 1:09:35 PM PDT by aquila48
1 Mr Chairman, creating a Clean, Green and Resilient Shared Future for Singapore is a collective effort.
2 During our Forward SG engagements, Singaporeans acknowledged that the whole society needs to work together to ensure that Singapore remains a clean, green and safe home.
Keeping Singapore clean and safe
Shared Collective Responsibility
3 Our education efforts and campaigns over the years have paid off, and Singaporeans are generally civic-minded. However, we continue to observe some persistent issues, that require us to go beyond just public education.
4 Public hygiene remains a top priority for MSE. Ms Rahayu, Mr Liang Eng Hwa and Mr Murali Pillai have asked about MSE’s efforts to enhance cleanliness. Minister Fu announced earlier that MSE will designate 2024 as the Year of Public Hygiene. This year, we will be working more closely with the community and ramping up our efforts to address persistent pain points, such as littering hotspots and dirty public toilets. The pandemic may be over, but Singapore needs a clean environment to be well-prepared to tackle future public health threats.
5 Based on our cleanliness surveys, many still believe that the responsibility to keep Singapore clean lies with the Government and our “army of cleaners”. Our cleaners are already busy cleaning up natural litter, such as fallen leaves, and accidental litter, such as spillages. Let us not add to their heavy workload with intentional litter by leaving or throwing our litter for them to clean up after us.
Multi-pronged Approach to Cleanliness
6 To tackle ongoing and persistent issues, we adopt a multi-pronged approach. Legislation and enforcement are critical to help us tackle the inconsiderate behaviour of a small number of people who are not as socially responsible, and to shape social norms for the wider population.
7 Ms Nadia Samdin asked about the Tray Return Initiative. This was launched in 2013 to encourage diners to return their trays after their meals. However, the Tray and Crockery Return Rate remained low despite public education efforts. By commencing enforcement in September 2021, we managed to cement new social norms and increase the return rate from 35% to over 90% today.
8 To Ms Nadia’s query, tray return is a key measure that helps tackle bird nuisance issues at hawker centres. NEA currently works with stakeholders such as Hawkers’ Associations and cleaning contractors to clear used crockery promptly and implement proper food waste management. NEA, together with the Town Councils, has also implemented anti-bird measures such as netting at tray return racks. Bird control efforts are also carried out where necessary.
9 To Mr Gan Thiam Poh’s query, we similarly use both public education and enforcement to curb high-rise littering. While we continue to educate the public on the dangers of high-rise littering, offenders, including first-timers, are sent to court and receive stiffer financial penalties and Corrective Work Orders (CWOs).
10 In July 2023, we introduced the statutory presumption provision for littering from residential flats to hold the registered owners or tenants responsible. We also encourage residents to follow guidelines by HDB or Town Councils on proper placement of objects in open spaces. Any cases of potential killer litter will be referred to the police for investigation.
Managing Littering Hotspots
11 The number of feedback on ground littering from 2022 to 2023 has increased about 15% compared to the two years before the pandemic. To tackle littering hotspots, we will adopt a more targeted approach.
12 NEA will increase the frequency and scale of anti-littering enforcement blitzes, targeting hotspots that have higher offence rates and public feedback reports. This year, we plan to conduct around five times as many blitzes compared to 2023. These blitzes will be more visible by deploying uniformed officers to patrol these hotspots and putting up standees on the number of enforcement actions taken. We will also deploy non-uniformed officers to catch litterbugs.
13 Recalcitrant littering offenders will carry out CWO at high footfall areas like transport nodes, town centres and city locations. An average of around 500 CWOs are issued to offenders each year. They wear pink and yellow vests that clearly state ‘Corrective Work Order’ while picking up litter.
14 Furthermore, we will quadruple the deployment of CCTVs at hotspots, which include HDB estates. This will improve NEA’s remote surveillance capabilities, facilitate efficient deployment of resources by enabling investigations into public hygiene offences, as well as deter would-be offenders.
15 However, even if someone is caught on camera, we are unable to follow up with enforcement action if we cannot identify the person. NEA will work with community stakeholders to identify these offenders. If there are still no leads, NEA will explore putting up images of these offenders at the places where they had littered to seek the wider community’s assistance in identifying them.
16 We hope that this will invoke collective community ownership to keep the common spaces clean, and also deter potential litterbugs.
Tackling Unhygienic Public Toilets
17 Public toilets remain a bugbear of many Singaporeans. We have stepped up our enforcement efforts on unhygienic public toilets, including at food establishments. Since April 2020, first time offenders who fail to keep public toilets in their premises clean and in good working condition, are fined up to $400 instead of getting a warning letter. Implicated retail food businesses would also incur demerit points, and some have resulted in the suspension of licences.
18 Enforcement can only go so far so I agree with Ms Poh Li San and Ms Rahayu that users and the community need to be involved as well. We will continue to collaborate closely with our partners from the people and private sectors to address the problem of dirty public toilets holistically.
19 We will form a Public Toilets Taskforce to study and recommend solutions to improve the cleanliness of public toilets. Mr Andrew Khng, Chairman of the Public Hygiene Council (PHC) and I will co-chair this taskforce.
20 The taskforce will tap on the expertise of public sector agencies, town councils, premises managers, academia and trade and industry associations. The taskforce will one, examine measures for adoption of good public toilet designs; two, promote responsible use of public toilets; three, advocate responsibility amongst premises owners for toilet cleanliness and maintenance; and four, strengthen community partnership to promote cleanliness. The focus will be on toilets that consistently fare poorly in cleanliness surveys, such as those at coffeeshops and hawker centres.
Leveraging Technology
21 We will incorporate new technology to improve the efficiency of our cleaning and vector control operations.
22 First, we will trial the use of thermal imaging cameras for rat surveillance. NEA will share relevant footage and data with premises operators so that they can conduct targeted interventions to eliminate potential rat nesting grounds.
23 Second, we will explore the use of artificial intelligence-powered video analytics to supplement performance audits of contracted cleaning companies. This will be more productive than manual inspections in detecting cleaning lapses.
Rallying the Community
24 Many Singaporeans we engaged during the Forward SG conversations agreed that we cannot just rely on cleaners and cleaning technology to keep Singapore clean. Hence, MSE will further strengthen our partnerships with the community.
25 The PHC will launch the latest edition of the “Keep Singapore Clean” campaign next month to galvanise Singaporeans to do our part to uphold higher standards of hygiene and cleanliness. Last year, the PHC organised a workshop with residents and other community partners to brainstorm anti-littering interventions. As a follow-up, to realise one of the ideas, the PHC partnered with Nanyang Polytechnic to develop a Smart Bin prototype, which was subsequently tested within the neighbourhood and now will be scaled up.
26 NEA is also working together with residents from 21 private estates, such as Jalan Wajek in Bukit Timah, in an interesting initiative. Residents park their vehicles on just one side of the road on specified days to facilitate mechanical road sweepers cleaning the other side of the road. This achieved 50 to 80% of time savings compared to manual labour. NEA would like to double the number of private estates involved in this initiative. We look forward to more of such support from residents as we transition to using cleaning technology.
Strengthening Public Health Defences
27 To reduce public exposure to second-hand smoke, we currently prohibit smoking at more than 49,000 premises. Last month, NEA adjusted the Orchard Road No-Smoking Zone (ORNSZ) to include additional areas where smokers congregate. To Mr Louis Ng’s question, NEA will continue to monitor the situation and consult relevant stakeholders, before considering extension of non-smoking areas.
28 To Mr Gan’s query, indeed, smoking is prohibited at all covered areas including buildings and retail food establishments, smokers may congregate in adjacent spaces, where smoking is not prohibited. Stakeholders interested in setting up Designated Smoking Points (DSP) can refer to guidelines on NEA’s website, and seek NEA’s advice if needed. These should be at least 5m away from the premises boundary, and direct smokers away from the general public. The proliferation of DSPs needs to be carefully considered and balanced against the risk of inadvertently normalising smoking.
29 Mr Ng also asked about second-hand smoke within homes. In addition to working with other government agencies and the community to issue joint advisories, we will continue to encourage smokers to practise greater social responsibility and facilitate conversations between neighbours. Based on NEA’s data from 2018 to 2022, about 95% of feedback providers did not give further feedback on smoking in homes within a year after advisories were issued. We remain open to innovative and practical solutions to reduce public exposure to second-hand smoke.
This article is a list of their policies. I wish we did the same.
Item 6 of his speech pretty much summarizes their approach, but the whole thing is worth reading.
"6 To tackle ongoing and persistent issues, we adopt a multi-pronged approach. Legislation and enforcement are critical to help us tackle the "inconsiderate behaviour of a small number of people" who are not as socially responsible, and to shape social norms for the wider population."
What do you think?
I imagine caning helps with quite a number of infractions...
Dang, ya beat me to it.
They execute drug criminals and cane anybody else...............That usually keeps the crazies in line...............
“to shape social norms” — Nazi Germany did this, too. Trains ran on time, that’s the metaphor.
Do all the fines you want for messing up public space, and if neighborhoods make HOAs they all sign onto, well and good.
But “shape social norms” is a dead collectivist giveaway. It gives government too much power. It’s too steep a price to pay for clean. I saw the legendary clean subways in the 1987 Soviet Union — impressive, but at what cost in freedoms?
You can’t even chew gum in public there.
I wonder what the people who have to quit smoking are going to do...
“What do you think?”
Sounds like communism.
I am trying imagine placing onmy resume “Singaporean Public Toilets Task Force”
I wish we could cane people for graffiti.
““to shape social norms” — Nazi Germany did this, too. Trains ran on time, that’s the metaphor.”
What? You don’t think we do it? Every country does it through their laws, public education curriculum, and their media.
So it’s not a question of whether you do or you don’t, it’s about how you shape society to be. And it absolutely depresses me the way our laws and institutions are currently shaping our “social norms”. I would much prefer what Singapore is doing. What they are asking of people is common sense, something that I would feel quite comfortable living with. And I’m sure you would to. Do you spit or throw gum on the sidewalk, do you throw trash around? Do you do drugs and get drunk in public? I don’t know, maybe you do.
I saw no communism, but lots of capitalism, beautiful architecture, prosperity and happy people.
If you get a chance go there and let me know what you think after you’ve seen it with your own eyes.
It is the most capitalist state in the world.
There are some times I am ok with draconian punishment when the rules are clear. Do not deface someone else’ property or we will cane you. I cannot think of a way that an adult could run afoul of that law unintentionally.
I actually lived in Singapore in the 1990s for a brief time on work assignment
back in 1994, an American teenager (a spoiled rich brat with a corporate CEO parents living in Singapore) was caught vandalizing some cars
The government ordered him caned approx. 10 times
Typically arrogant democrats got Bill Clinton involved as a “human rights issue” and Singapore Gov’t, to give Clinton some “face,” reduced the sentence to about 4 canings, if memory serves.
Our other American friends were aghast that Clinton would be so stupid to get involved with such a petty case, on the side of a punk teenager vandal.
All the Americans I knew in Singapore wanted the kid caned according to Singapore Law. Having lived through Koch and Dinkens administrations in NY City, I knew the reasons Singapore was so clean and efficient.
Not to put too fine a point on it...
“What do you think?”
Caning for minor infractions will do the trick. Muslim countries will cut off your hand for stealing too. Vlad the Impaler did not have any stealing either. He would lay out gold in the roadside and dare anyone to steal it.
Yeah barbaric societies will do that sort of thing.
Putting Muslim hand-chopping and Vlad the Impaler next to Singapore is a faulty and silly argument. A totally ridiculous, straw-man fallacy
If you don't know the place, you should not comment.
“What do you think?”
I loved Singapore. I bet they don’t practice DEI either. I bet Singaporeans don’t cry “racism” every time a law demands responsibilities from the citizen.
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