DPM Heng Swee Keat at the Launch of Go Green SG 2024

Senior Minister of State Amy Khor,

Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng,

Republic Polytechnic Principal and CEO Ms Jeanne Liew,

Staff and students of Republic Polytechnic,

Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good afternoon.

I am glad to join you today at the launch of Go Green SG 2024.

Stewarding a Clean, Green and Sustainable Singapore

It may be hard for the younger ones to imagine – but the Singapore of yesteryear looked very different from today.

I still remember overcrowded squatter settlements, the dirty Singapore river, and people spitting and littering on the streets.

It took careful planning, long term investment, and many years of hard work to get to where we are today. The efforts included:

Public education and tough enforcement to stop public littering and spitting.

New infrastructure like hawker centres to relocate street hawkers.

And urban planning to remove industries and farms away from the city centre and a massive clean-up of the Singapore river.

Our forefathers, especially Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, had the vision to recognise the importance of a clean and green environment, and the grit and discipline to get it done.

They knew that this was crucial to the health and wellness of our people.

It would also give confidence to foreign investors to invest here and create good jobs.

Mr Lee was the strongest proponent of this.

He launched the first Keep Singapore Clean campaign in 1968.

And he made Singapore a Garden City. And now we are working towards a City in Nature.

We each have a similar duty to build a sustainable and liveable home for each other, and for our future generations.

Public Hygiene as a Priority for Singapore

Today, cities around the world face new environmental challenges. Including Singapore.

These include having to reduce carbon emissions, adapting to climate change, preserving nature, and ensuring the resilience of our food supply.

The Singapore Green Plan 2030 sets out our strategies to tackle some of these issues.

Public hygiene is an increasingly important challenge as cities grow and become denser. A hygienic environment, clean air and water, and food that is safe for consumption is important for everyone.

It is very apt that MSE has designated 2024 as the Year of Public Hygiene, after recent campaigns on climate action and zero waste.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that public hygiene is in fact critical to prevent the spread of viruses and other pathogens to safeguard our health.

During the pandemic, personal practices like frequent handwashing, and wearing of face masks, were the first line of defence.

Disinfection of public spaces was also crucial - particularly at crowded places like eateries and public toilets.

The SG Clean Quality Mark was launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to improve hygiene at public premises.

Put together, these experiences taught us that we each have a vital role to play in improving public hygiene.

We should take heart that public hygiene levels have improved since the pandemic.

According to the 2023 SMU Public Cleanliness Satisfaction Survey, 94% of Singaporeans are satisfied with overall levels of cleanliness in our public spaces.

These are the highest satisfaction levels since 2019.

But, there is more that we need to do. Persistent pain points include littering at large public events, and dirty public toilets in coffeeshops and hawker centres.

Rallying Collective Responsibility – Individual Action

As we launch Go Green SG this year, I have one core message for all of us – We each have a role to play towards a clean, green and sustainable Singapore.

As individuals, we must remember that each and every one of our actions matters. We can mess up or we can clean up.

Good simple habits like separating our trash, returning our trays, cleaning up after ourselves, and keeping toilets clean and dry all help to keep public spaces clean and hygienic.

Japan is a good model of such values in action. There are not many public trash bins – the Japanese have made it a habit to bring their trash to suitable points for disposal.

To inculcate good habits, it is important we start from young, at home and in school, and adults must serve as good role models.

We can catalyse more of such positive behaviours, through a mix of enforcement, good infrastructure, and public education.

For example, NEA has made good progress to encourage diners to return their used trays and crockery at hawker centres.

Tray and crockery return rates at hawker centres have increased to 93% - up from 65% in August 2021.

This was done through enforcement of table-littering regulations, and also through partnerships with Town Councils, hawker centre operators, and cleaning contractors to optimise tray return infrastructure, and to make it easy for the public to do this.

We should similarly look at how we can inculcate such positive behaviours to improve the cleanliness at public toilets.

I am glad that work by the Public Toilets Taskforce is in full swing, led by SPS Baey Yam Keng and Public Hygiene Council (PHC) Chairman Mr Andrew Khng.

We look forward to your recommendations in key areas such as (i) design and infrastructure, (ii) cleaning and maintenance, (iii) audit and enforcement, and (iv) public engagement.

Individuals can also take on a leadership role to rally their friends and neighbours to keep the community clean.

In my constituency at East Coast, we have dedicated groups of volunteers who organise beach clean-ups, such as the #EastCoastBeachPlan.

Local non-profit group, Stridy, provides an app that supports such communities to organise and track the impact of their efforts.

To date, the Stridy community across Singapore has collected close to 7,000kg of litter, and you can find out more at the Stridy booth later.

Rallying Collective Responsibility – 3P Partnerships

Besides individual action, partnerships between the Public, Private and People sectors, or 3P partnerships, are also important.

Earlier this year, the PHC launched the Corporate Action Network to rally businesses and corporates to keep Singapore clean.

The network allows corporates to network, share best practices, and collaborate on joint efforts.

Corporates and schools can also collaborate to harness science and technology to develop new public hygiene solutions.

This is important given Singapore’s land and manpower constraints.

For example, Republic Polytechnic and EnGro Corporation Limited have developed a process to treat ash from incineration plants, and reuse it as sustainable construction material. This will help extend the lifespan of Semakau landfill.

Similarly, NEA’s Environmental Health Institute and Orinno developed an automated system to breed male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes at scale, to suppress the transmission of dengue fever.

More of such solutions will be on display at the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore (CESG) next week.

For instance, the Singapore University of Technology and Design will showcase a self-reconfigurable robot, which is capable of cleaning tight and narrow pavements.

At CESG, SMS Amy Khor will also officially open the Enviro Tech Innovation Hub (ETIH). This is an initiative to upskill the cleaning industry, and testbed new cleaning solutions to raise productivity.

I hope that many of you will be able to attend CESG, and be inspired to create new solutions.

Let me conclude. Public hygiene has been fundamental to the liveable home that we enjoy today. We all have a part to play.

The annual Go Green SG movement serves to rally collective responsibility for a clean, green and sustainable Singapore.

Let me express my appreciation to the 180 3P partners who have come on board to make this possible.

There will be interesting learning journeys, workshops, and activities, including a “Trashion Week”. This is a collaboration between Stridy and Vintagewknd and will rally the community to clean up the streets dressed in upcycled clothing.

So as we kick off the Go Green SG month, remember – each and every one of our actions can make a difference. Each of us has the responsibility to do our part.

I hope that everyone will think about how you can do your part.

And how every school, company and community can rally people to work together, to make an even greater difference!

Together, we can build a cleaner, greener and more sustainable home for generations to come.

Thank you very much.