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2024 to be the year of public hygiene, with targeted measures to improve cleanliness

2024-03-04 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - To ensure that Singapore maintains high levels of cleanliness for a clean, green and resilient future, 2024 has been designated the year of public hygiene, with a suite of measures being implemented – from possibly publicising photos of litterbugs to improving the state of public toilets.

Speaking at her ministry’s budget debate on March 4, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said: “Sustaining high levels of public hygiene requires active participation of all of us. The Government, businesses, communities and individuals must all work together to contribute to a clean environment, safe food, clean air and clean water.”

The environmental industry will be supported with additional capacity building and technology adoption to help strengthen enforcement efforts, said Ms Fu.

For example, to manage littering, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will increase the frequency and scale of anti-littering enforcement blitzes – with plans to conduct around five times as many exercises compared with 2023, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng.

Uniformed officers will patrol these hot spots and put up signs on enforcement action taken, while non-uniformed officers will catch litterbugs. Recalcitrant littering offenders will carry out corrective work orders by picking up litter at high footfall areas, including transport nodes and town centres such as Causeway Point, and city locations like Somerset.

NEA will also quadruple the deployment of closed-circuit TV cameras at littering hot spots to help enable investigations into public hygiene offences and deter other potential offenders.

If someone is caught on camera but cannot be identified, NEA will work with community stakeholders to identify them, said Mr Baey. “If there are still no leads, NEA will explore putting up images of these offenders at the places where they littered to seek the wider community’s assistance in identifying them,” he added.

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These images may be displayed on notice boards and digital screens at common areas. “We hope that this will invoke collective community ownership to keep the common spaces clean, and also deter potential litterbugs,” he added.

While the Government has stepped up enforcement efforts on unhygienic toilets, enforcement measures can only go so far, said Mr Baey.

Therefore, a Public Toilets Task Force will be convened to study and recommend solutions to improve the cleanliness of public toilets.

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Here are some of the other initiatives announced on March 4.

Food

？ Three new hawker centres will be opening in 2024 in Woodleigh, Sengkang and Punggol Coast.

？ To help increase productivity of aquaculture farms, the Government is working to optimise the use of aquaculture spaces, encourage better farming practices, and spur innovation through research and development as part of an update to the Singapore Aquaculture Plan.

The plan was first launched in 2022, and the updated version will be launched in the second half of 2024. It will serve as a road map for aquaculture development.

For example, a tender was launched for Pulau Bukom in January 2024 to bring the first closed-containment aquaculture system into the Southern Waters. These types of farming systems are more resilient against environment risks, and generally pollute the surrounding waters less as they do not release waste in the sea.

Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon noted that optimising the use of limited sea spaces for aquaculture will require the Government to balance competing priorities including maritime activities and biodiversity. Engagements are ongoing with various groups to help guide the “development of productive and sustainable aquaculture for Singapore”, he added.