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  Channel News Asia 28 Jul 07
North West CDC students stage "protest" to spread anti-litter message

Straits Times 28 Jul 07
Drive to make buses, interchanges litter-free
WONG CHUN HAN

Today Online 28 Jul 07
Guess who are the worst litterbugs ...
Daphne Chuah daphne@mediacorp.com.sg

Despite this sunny island's clean and green reputation, a shocking one in five Singaporeans do not take pride in keeping the nation litter-free.

This was the finding of a recent survey of 3,018 people aged 12 and above, commissioned by the National Environment Agency (NEA). Alarmingly, 13.6 per cent regard littering as socially acceptable behaviour.

The inaugural Litter Behaviour Study also found that Generation-Y respondents are the biggest culprits — 64 per cent of those caught littering during the first half of the year are aged 30 or below.

It also revealed that one in two, or 53.7 per cent of the respondents, feel that littering is not a serious problem in Singapore, while 39.2 per cent are not at all concerned about the issue of littering.

This is a "cause for concern", said Dr Pang Fung Yin, senior assistant director for community at NEA's 3P Partnership Department.

For people to sit up and take action, "we have to first be concerned" about the issue at hand, she said.

"What we would like to tell the public is that despite the fact that Singapore is very clean, there are certain areas where there is littering. These are the areas where we need to come together to make sure are kept clean."

Concluded in April this year, the six-month study covered 203 sample locations at 16 types of public premises, including beaches, bus stops, bus terminals, Housing Board void-decks and taxi stands.

Of these, bus terminals have been identified as the most litter-prone public area, due to its high volume of human traffic.

To curb the problem, NEA, together with SBS Transit and SMRT Buses, has launched a litter-free programme at 21 bus interchanges and which involves nearly 3,700 buses. Posters, bus panels and banners will remind passengers to "Just bin it".

"I think we are pretty much on the way (to being a litter-free country)," said Minister of State for Finance and Transport Lim Hwee Hua at the launch of the "Litter-Free Bus Services" programme on Friday.

"It's just that from time to time, we need to raise awareness and remind people again that it takes everyone's effort to make this work," she said. Shop tenants at bus interchanges are asked to encourage customers not to litter.

Said Mrs Lim: "Litter will not just disappear by itself … I think none of us would like to operate or travel in an environment that is dirty, especially if it has been dirtied by somebody else.

"Therefore, we need to ensure that we don't dirty the place for others."

FILTHY FINDINGS

The NEA survey of 3,018 people shows:
13.6% find littering socially acceptable
53.7% feel littering is not a serious problem in Singapore
39.2% are not concerned about the issue of littering here
20.3% do not take pride in keeping Singapore litter-free
8.6% think littering will not lead to hygiene problems or the spread of disease
7.6% do not think littering is harmful to the environment

Straits Times 28 Jul 07
Drive to make buses, interchanges litter-free
WONG CHUN HAN

THE 21 bus interchanges have won the dubious honour of being the worst-littered public places here.

The half a million commuters who bustle through them daily are the litterbugs who leave behind cigarette butts, scraps of paper and tissue, plastic and sweet wrappers in their wake.

The National Environment Agency, which did a recent study of littering behaviour in public places, has joined forces with bus operators SBS Transit and SMRT Buses to launch an anti-littering campaign.

The public education drive kicked off yesterday at the Ang Mo Kio bus interchange, with Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, the Minister of State for Finance and Transport, present as guest of honour.

The 'Litter-Free Bus Services' programme aims to build in commuters a sense of ownership and responsibility for keeping the interchanges and buses clean. Its tagline, 'Let's clean up, just bin it', has been splashed on posters and banners at all bus interchanges and on panels and information systems on board buses. SBS and SMRT bus drivers have also been roped in to remind passengers not to litter.

Mr Lim Yew Poon, 45, an SMRT bus driver, said in Mandarin: 'Most importantly, we as drivers should lead by example by keeping our buses clean. That would make passengers less inclined to litter.'

To keep the anti-littering message alive, regular inspections and cleanliness competitions will also be conducted.

Channel News Asia 28 Jul 07
North West CDC students stage "protest" to spread anti-litter message

SINGAPORE: It was a "protest" of a different kind by some 700 students from 11 schools in North West CDC.

Armed with placards, their message was about the anti-litter campaign. Saturday's event was part of the North West CDC's month-long Green Festival which aims to reach out to some 100,000 residents.

Mr Lim Swee Say, who was at the event, noted that the number of litterbugs had jumped from 5,000 in 2005 to 7,000 last year. And nearly 70 per cent of these litterbugs were less than 30 years old, a worrying trend, he said.

"As Singaporeans become more educated, somehow.....young Singaporeans are still not able to get rid of the bad social habit of littering. We think it's very important that we must continue to reinforce the (anti-litter) message and not wait until we are hit by a crisis like SARS or dengue before we respond. For Singapore to make good progress, not only must we take good care of our economy, our society and community, (what’s) equally important, is to take good care of the environment," said Mr Lim, who is the MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

The commonly littered items are cigarette butts, tissue paper and plastic wrappers. - CNA/ir
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