SINGAPORE: In a crackdown on litterbugs, Singapore may publicise images of offenders in community spaces so members of the public can help identify them.
Identified offenders will be dealt with under the law, including being fined or charged in court, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said.
“Care will be exercised” in cases committed by young children, the elderly or vulnerable groups, the agency added.
Feedback on littering has risen 15 per cent from 2022 to 2023, compared with the two years before the pandemic, said Senior Parliament Secretary Baey Yam Keng, while detailing the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment’s spending plans on Monday (Mar 4).
Authorities will increase the number of closed-circuit television deployments by four times to around 1,000 a year to step up surveillance against littering.
The NEA also plans to conduct more, larger scale and higher visibility blitzes at “cleanliness hotspots”, from 21 last year to more than 100 this year.
Corrective Work Orders, where recalcitrant offenders are required to clean public areas for at least three hours, will be conducted at hotspots. About 1,600 Corrective Work Orders were issued between 2021 and 2023.
Mr Baey noted that education efforts and campaigns have paid off, and Singaporeans are “generally civic-minded”.
“However, we continue to observe some persistent issues, that require us to go beyond just public education,” he said.
“This year, we will be working more closely with the community and ramping up our efforts to address persistent pain points … The pandemic may be over, but Singapore needs a clean environment to be well-prepared to tackle future public health threats.”
