Impromptu Speech

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!