Public Hygiene Council ropes in companies to help keep S'pore clean

Source: The Straits Times
Author: Joyce Teo

SINGAPORE - More than 50 companies, including local bank OCBC and public transport operator SBS Transit, have joined a network created by the Public Hygiene Council (PHC) to help get people to make it a habit to keep the country clean throughout the year.

This was revealed at the April 28 launch of this year's Keep Singapore Clean campaign, along with an announcement that SG Clean Day will be held every two months, instead of three, from 2025.

On SG Clean Day, cleaners at selected Housing Board (HDB) estates, public parks, malls, dormitories and other public areas take a break from sweeping duties.

On the move to rope in help from companies, PHC chairman Andrew Khng told The Straits Times: "Basically, the Keep Singapore Clean campaign is for a period of one month, but the corporate network is not. So we provide a platform for corporate networks which want to engage in, say, litter picking in East Coast or elsewhere."

At the campaign launch held at the HDB Hub, PHC signed a memorandum of understanding with OCBC, which adopted four of 19 CleanPods. These storage cabinets of litter-picking tools like metal tongs and trash bags are placed in various parks and HDB estates.

With the adoption, staff volunteers from OCBC can easily conduct community activities as part of the Keep Singapore Clean movement that started in 1968.

Another company that is including cleaning in corporate social responsibility programmes is SBS Transit. Its chief executive Lim Tien Hock said such a network, if it grows in size, can make a difference in getting people to be more socially responsible.

"If you're able to create a platform and galvanise the staff and the staff come together and they like it, then I think there will be a positive effect and influence others (to join in the activities)," he noted.

This year's Keep Singapore Clean campaign, which kicked off with close to 70 litter-picking activities at various locations on April 28, will last till June 2. Everyone is invited to identify a shared community space and lead cleaning activities.

At the launch, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, said holding SG Clean Day every two months instead of three, from 2025, will help Singaporeans notice the impact of littering and spur them to do the right thing.

This includes binning trash properly, keeping public toilets, particularly those at hawker centres and coffee shops, clean and returning food trays at public eateries.

"We value the contributions of the cleaners and the cleaners will continue to play a role, but we do want to make sure that everybody plays their part through... SG Clean Day," she said in her speech.