While the rest of the neighbourhood in Nee Soon South is sleeping, about 120 volunteers were out early on Sunday morning (Oct 11). Armed with litter pickers and gloves, they sorted the garbage into bags for rubbish and recyclables.
Headed by Nee Soon South MP Lee Bee Wah, the ward is the first in Singapore to do this on a monthly basis.
The programme – called HABIT @ Nee Soon South (Hold on And Bin IT, make it a HABIT!) – started about three years ago, and organisers said they have seen a gradual decrease in the amount of litter collected. Meanwhile, the number of residents volunteering has also increased.
National Environment Agency (NEA) said it wants to replicate the monthly scheme in other parts of Singapore. It said representatives from Jurong and Queenstown have expressed an interest, and have attended Nee Soon’s monthly litter picking programme to learn more.
However, Ms Lee said picking up litter is not enough. She is encouraging her residents to look out for those who litter habitually.
She also suggested to the authorities to reward people who catch litterbugs in action. For example, after a resident takes a video of someone littering, he submits the evidence to NEA, and he gets to earn half of the summons.
She said: “In Taiwan, every resident is an enforcement officer. They can video, they can take photo of the litterbug and submit to their NEA. And if there is successful prosecution, their NEA will give the resident who reported it half of the summons collected.
“My residents have given this suggestion and I thought it is a good one. So now I’m working with NEA, and we will try to pilot this in Nee Soon South in the near future.”
Channel NewsAsia understands there are challenges in its implementation, as the legislation needs to be amended.
Said NEA chairman Liak Teng Lit: “I think the Government needs to think through what are the things we need to do. If you look at the equivalent of what is happening on the road, many people today have their in-vehicle cameras and not many people dare to make funny claims about accidents because there is a risk that whatever you say could be contradicting what’s on the camera in someone else’s vehicles.
“So certainly having neighbours watching over the environment and watching over each other will be very helpful. For the good citizens, there is nothing to worry about. In fact, people will be filming you doing good things and praising you rather than reprimanding you.”
Ms Lee also launched a second recycling point in her ward, after a successful pilot. The scheme is being supported by the Tzu Chi Foundation.
Residents take their recyclables to the void deck at Block 873, Yishun Street 81. These items will be sorted, and taken to recycling centres.
She said this will educate residents on what can and cannot be recycled. This could prevent uninformed residents from contaminating recycling bins with waste.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
