Littering in Singapore
Xue Quan: *throw
litter*
Lay Hoon: Xue
Quan, pick up the litter that you have just thrown. Do you know that littering
in Singapore is a serious offence? If caught, first time offenders will be
fined $300 for minor littering like cigarette
butts and sweet wrappers. For second time offenders and subsequent, offenders will
be fined $500 and court attendance may be required with judges having an option
of concurrently ordering a “Corrective Work Order”.
Xue Quan: Over the years, the
percentage of the amount of littering offenders in Singapore is increasing.
Littering not only causes global warming, at the same time causing harm to
wildlife. For example, plastic bag can be mistaken as food for animals; as a
result, they will suffocate to death.
Lay Hoon: Do you know the reason
why people litter?
Xue Quan: Yes, one of the reasons is the old mindsets of people thinking that
there will always be someone else who will clear up their mess after them.
However, in Korea, you can hardly find any rubbish bins around and furthermore;
the only things you can find lying around in the streets are nothing more than
falling leaves in autumn.
Lay Hoon:
The problem of littering in Singapore is
mainly caused by improper disposal of rubbish in places which are not designated for it. Singaporeans are always complaining
about the lack of dustbins in Singapore. However, this is not entirely true as
there are more than 4 million of dustbins placed all around Singapore.
You may be thinking, since there are so many dustbins around Singapore, why
does the problem of littering still exist? Though there are more than 4 million
of dustbins around Singapore, the bins are never
stragically placed in the right areas. For example, the Mass Rapid Transit
(MRT) stations in Singapore. The bins are placed in areas where it will look
aesthetically better resulting in the rubbish bins having a cosmetic purpose
instead of being placed where human traffic flow is the heaviest.
Xue Quan: Also, people tend to believe
that one person makes no different. Perhaps one person littering makes no
different, however, when someone sees another person littering, he or she may
be influenced. It will also harm the environment as a result. Some may also
think in
another way that picking up a litter may not make a difference. However, that
one person can make a difference when they influence others to do so. At the same time, it benefits the environment
and the Earth, instead of it being harmed. In Chinese there is the saying “一传十, 十传百”which means one person
spreads to ten people, ten person spread to hundred people. So, by picking up
litter starting from one person, it can actually motivate others to do so. If
everyone does this, the wildlife and the environment will be saved and it slows
down global warming too.
Lay Hoon: To change the mindsets of
people is
to educate them to stop littering on the floor but the dustbins. The National
Environment Agency, NEA carried out the “Singapore, Litter-Free” campaign to
educate and engage the community to take ownership of their litter and the
environment. Besides this, schools can educate students about the consequences
of littering through various subjects such as moral education, geography and
science.
Xue Quan: Yes, the community also can organise
events to promote the importance of keeping Singapore a clean and green country.
At the same time, government can reward people who recycle. For example, a person can be rewarded 10 cents for every 10
aluminium drink cans they returned or every 1 kg of newspapers returned, taking
into consideration that Singaporeans are quite money minded, hence this
solution would be a very effective in reducing not only the littering problem,
but also the problem of not recycling.
Lay Hoon: To improve the problem of improper
disposal of rubbish, the government could simply increase the number of
dustbins. However, more dustbins would require more
workers to clear the bins and the problem with these workers is that they are
very inefficient working at a rate of about 25 rubbish bins a day.
Xue Quan: Another reason why the government isn’t going ahead with this solution
is because more bins would require more maintenance which equates to more money
spent in cleaning and maintaining the bins. Therefore, a better solution is to
go through the process of Research and Development, R&D. R&D is the
studying of a problem and making changes to solve it, often through the use of
technology. So, let’s work together, keeping Singapore a clean and green
country! Thank you!
