Desiree Chen on Drain Littering. (Thursday, May 20, 2010 / 3:05 AM)
When Singaporeans think of littering (litter bugs and the likes), the first thought that spruce up to their minds is, land littering. Few people would actually associate littering with 'drain littering'.
As quoted by Mr Yap Kheng Guan, director of PUB's 3P (people, public and private) Network Department, "Litter that is thrown on the ground can be washed into the drains by rain and end up in the source of our water supply." We can derive from the quote that the litter bugs do not litter directly into the drains per se, most of them throw their unwanted items on the floor and they are subsequently washed into the drains by rain. Or it could also be due to some cleaners who are uneducated in differentiating rubbish; they might just sweep rubbish that they think can 'dissolve' into the drain water into the drains itself.
The government has traditionally meted out negative reinforcements like fines and/or the well-known Corrective Work Orders (CWO) etc to deter people from any form of littering. In fact, these active punishments are successful in their own rights. Singapore prides itself as a green city not because we employ lots of cleaners to clean up the 'mess' that the public leave behind, but I believe that the majority of Singaporeans do not litter. Besides, you can easily find a dustbin in proximity of whereever you are.
According to the statistics, "14 tonnes of rubbish - equal to the weight of 10 cars - end up in Singapore's drains every day." To the laymen, it's just "alot of litter being produced everyday!". These statistics might shock the educated Singaporeans, irregardless of whether they are the 'professional' litter bugs or not, from littering for a short period of time, but once the 'shock' factor weaves off, they revert back to their errant ways of disposing rubbish.
Therefore, the anti-littering campaigns must be on-going. They might not be able to stamp out littering on the whole. But it serves the purpose of constantly reminding Singaporeans the real existence of the huge amount of rubbish collected daily and littering is punishable by law. I believe it helps to reduce the amount of waste being produced yearly. The Wonderful World of Water is a campaign to raise awareness, but more active steps can be accompanied to achieve greater awareness amongst the public and fulfil the purpose of introducing campaigns.
Some of the downsides of this Wonderful World of Water campaign are that the fanciful art covers for the drains will definitely catch the public's attention. However, not every art cover contains the message that it is supposed to convey. Also, these art covers are placed in areas with high pedestral traffic. Not alot of people would actually stop their steps to read the wordings found on some art covers.
There are steps that NEA/PUB can take to heighten awareness:
1) Reaching out to the community
All secondary school students participate in the Community Involvement Programme (CIP). Perhaps NEA/PUB can create brochures on information pertaining drain litter/anti litter. The students can go to HDB blocks to distribute the brochures to the residents and inform them about the relevant information. These students can also bring the useful knowledge home and educate their family members.
2) Nation-wide event
The launch of the 'Clean and Green Week' in 1990 is a highly successful public education programme. There were a slate of activities and events held across the country. The official mascot, a cartoon frog, which appeared in the TV ads, was known by both the young and old Singaporeans. NEA can also consider launching a similar nation-wide public education programme with its main focus on drain/river litter. I believe it will be well-received and at the same time, reach out to the mass public effectively.
3) Giving out incentives
The most common form of rubbish I see floating on the river or lying on the drains are empty plastic bottles. Some green cities like Heidbelberg in Germany have plastic bottle recycling machines. For each plastic bottle that the consumers return, they get back a nominal monetary amount or it can be used as rebates from the supermarkets. The Singapore government can learn from these green cities and hopefully adopt it in Singapore.
