Public Cleanliness
Singapore has a reputation as a clean and attractive city, in large part because of its litter-free streets and pavements. NEA plays an important role in this regard, as it oversees the cleaning of public areas in Singapore.
NEA takes a three-pronged approach to keeping our environment clean, which includes:
- Public Cleaning
- Public Education
- Enforcement
Public Cleaning
The cleaning of public areas in Singapore went through a major restructuring in 2012. Prior to April 2012, NEA was only responsible for the cleaning of roads, pavements as well as certain private estates and public areas throughout Singapore. Besides NEA, other agencies such as PUB and NParks were responsible for the cleaning of their own assets such as drains and park areas.
In order to improve efficiency and deliver a higher standard of public cleanliness, a new Department of Public Cleanliness (DPC) was formed on 1 April 2012. More information about DPC can be found here.
To raise the cleaning standards in Singapore and upgrade the professionalism and productivity of the cleaning industry, NEA has also implemented a voluntary Clean Mark Accreditation Scheme for the cleaning industry on 21 July 2010. The scheme is voluntary and the application fee will be waived for another year till mid 2013. For more information on Clean Mark Accreditation Scheme, please click here.
Public Education
The NEA works closely with our 3P Partners (the people, public and private sectors) to rally members of the community to take ownership of their litter and keep their surroundings clean. The key message behind our education efforts is that the public should not rely on cleaners to clean up after them. Rather, they should take personal responsibility to hold on to their litter until they find a bin to dispose of it. One of the main programmes is the “Singapore, Litter-Free” campaign.
Enforcement
Strict enforcement to deter litterbugs and to complement public education is a key strategy that NEA adopts to sustain public cleanliness.
A first time offender who throws a cigarette butt onto the ground or other small items, such as carpark coupon tab, sweet wrapper, bus ticket, cigarette box wrapper and matchstick, may have the offence compounded for $300.
Recalcitrant offenders or those who commit serious littering offences such as throwing a drink can, bottle or other large items in a public place are required to appear in Court, and may be served with a Corrective Work Order (CWO) requiring them to clean up public places.
The CWO was introduced in November 1992 to reform littering offenders. As the offender carries out the CWO such as by picking or sweeping up litter, it is hoped that the offenders will reflect on the hardship that cleaners have to endure to clean up the mess created by them, and how litter can mar our living environment. Of course, the CWO does carry an element of shame and hopefully this will serve to deter others from littering.