Creating A Clean, Green and Resilient Shared Singapore

4 March 2024 – At the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE)’s Committee of Supply debate on 4 March 2024, Minister Ms Grace Fu, Senior Ministers of State Dr Amy Khor and Dr Koh Poh Koon, and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Baey Yam Keng shared the Ministry’s key initiatives in creating a clean, green, and resilient shared Singapore.

2 This year, we are focusing our efforts on enhancing public hygiene to better protect public health and create a thriving urban environment for Singaporeans. We have inherited a clean and green environment from earlier generations, but it is up to us to leave an even better environment for our future generations. In the spirit of the Forward Singapore exercise, we are designating 2024 as the Year of Public Hygiene to inspire collective responsibility and to galvanise a whole-of-nation effort to upkeep our hygiene standards across four key areas: clean environment, safe food, clean air, and clean water.

3 We will also continue to work with our stakeholders to press on towards net zero and strengthen our climate resilience. We will expand the Government’s green procurement policies and strengthen our support for businesses and households to become more resource- and energy-efficient. We are also enhancing coastal protection measures and strengthening efforts to secure a supply of safe food.

Year of Public Hygiene

Clean Environment

4 While most members of the public are socially responsible, a small number of people continue to litter, particularly at certain hotspots. To tackle this issue, NEA will step up enforcement at cleanliness hotspots, employ greater use of technology and rally the community to help keep Singapore clean. This includes increasing the frequency and scale of anti-littering enforcement blitzes, and a four-fold increase in the deployment of CCTVs at hotspots (See [Annex A](/cos2024/Annex A - Media Release on NEA's stepped up efforts in the Year of Public Hygiene.pdf)).

5 Improving the cleanliness of public toilets is another area that we will focus on, in partnership with our stakeholders. MSE will form a Public Toilets Taskforce, which will study and recommend solutions to improve the cleanliness of public toilets, particularly those at coffeshops and hawker centres. The Taskforce will be co-chaired by Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Baey Yam Keng and Chairman of the Public Hygiene Council, Mr Andrew Khng. It will comprise representatives from across public sector agencies, town councils, trade associations, non-governmental organisations, academia, professionals, premises managers and industry associations. Details will be announced in due course (See [Annex A](/cos2024/Annex A - Media Release on NEA's stepped up efforts in the Year of Public Hygiene.pdf)).

Safe Food

6 Ensuring food safety is a joint responsibility shared by all parties along the food supply chain. Even as the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) puts in place a regulatory system and enabling environment to ensure food safety, the food industry must also play an active role in maintaining good food safety standards.

7 SFA is refining the grading system for assessing the food safety performance of food establishments. The current grading system, which provides a snapshot of food safety performance at the point of inspection, may not adequately reflect whether food safety standards have been consistently maintained by the food establishments. This refined grading system, the Safety Assurance for Food Establishments (SAFE) framework, will provide consumers with a better representation of food establishments’ food safety performance by taking into account the establishments’ track record and food safety management systems. Further details will be announced later this year.

Clean Air

8 Formaldehyde is currently added to some paints as a preservative to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth. Exposure to formaldehyde can be harmful to our health. We will introduce limits on formaldehyde in building products in a phased approach, starting with interior paints. From 1 January 2026, NEA will require paints sold in Singapore intended for application on interior surfaces of buildings not to contain formaldehyde (See [Annex B](/cos2024/Annex B - Media Release on Limits on formaldehyde in interior paints.pdf)).

Clean Water

9 Safeguarding our precious water resources to ensure a supply of clean water for Singaporeans is of utmost importance. In this regard, PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, will look to introduce measures to better protect our waterways, reservoirs and sewerage system. The measures would further deter silt discharges into our waterways and reservoirs, and illegal discharge of harmful substances into our public sewerage system. More details will be released later this year.

Rallying Businesses and Individuals to Action

10 Sustaining high levels of public hygiene requires all of us to play a part. The Year of Public Hygiene goes beyond just doubling down on our enforcement efforts. We will also rally businesses, community and individuals to play an active part to upkeep good public hygiene practices for our collective well-being.

11 The Public Hygiene Council (PHC) will launch the latest edition of the annual Keep Singapore Clean campaign on 28 April this year to galvanise Singaporeans to do their part to uphold higher standards of hygiene and cleanliness. This year’s campaign will rally PHC’s business, government and community partners to reaffirm their collective commitment to keep Singapore clean.

12 Building on last year’s inaugural campaign, MSE will roll out the second edition of Go Green SG across June and July this year with an expanded range of exclusive activities, including on public hygiene. This will allow more participants and partners across the People, Public and Private sectors to join us in taking care of our environment.

Pressing On Towards Net Zero

Green Government

13 In 2022, we raised our national ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. We will enhance the public sector’s green procurement policies to support this goal.

14 Last year, we announced that the Government will set aside up to 5 per cent of evaluation points for environmental sustainability for large government construction and ICT tenders starting from FY2024. We will extend this green public procurement initiative to government tenders for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions (MICE) and other events organised by the public sector from FY2025. Further industry consultations will be conducted before finalising details.

Supporting Households and Businesses in Improving Resource- and Energy Efficiency

15 Through the existing Climate Friendly Households Programme, 1-, 2- and 3-room HDB households were given vouchers to be used between November 2020 and 20 March 2024 for the purchase of energy-efficient refrigerators, LED lights and water-efficient shower fittings. This helps to reduce energy and water consumption, lower utility bills, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

16 To encourage wider adoption of more energy efficient products in households, NEA and PUB will enhance the Climate Friendly Households Programme. From 15 April 2024, all HDB households can look forward to receiving $300 worth of Climate Vouchers, which can be used to purchase ten types of energy- and water-efficient household products at participating retailers (See [Annex C](/cos2024/Annex C - Media Release on Enhanced Climate Friendly Households Programme.pdf)).

17 NEA’s Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) and the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) has helped consumers and businesses make informed decisions to purchase more energy efficient appliances. From 1 April 2025, we will expand the schemes to include household water heaters and commercial storage refrigerators (See [Annex D](/cos2024/Annex D - Media Release on MELS MEPS for commercial storage refrigerators and household water heaters.pdf)).

18 We are also helping businesses shift towards more circular and zero waste business models. NEA has worked with training providers and the waste management industry association to introduce a Zero Waste Manager course to train personnel to lead and champion waste management and reduction efforts in their organisations (See [Annex E](/cos2024/Annex E - Media Release on Zero Waste Manager Course.pdf)).

Strengthening our Climate Resilience

Enhancing Coastal Protection

19 Sea levels are projected to rise by up to 1.15m by 2100 under the high emission scenario. We must protect Singapore from rising sea levels by ensuring that coastal protection measures are implemented effectively.

20 PUB will propose new coastal protection legislation to delineate the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, and safeguard land for coastal protection measures and future upgrades to cater for uncertainties in climate projections. It will also regulate and enforce against activities that could pose a risk to coastal protection measures and ensure that PUB’s coastal protection standards are met. We intend to kickstart consultations on this new legislation this year (See [Annex F](/cos2024/Annex F - Media Factsheet on Coastal Protection Legislation and Code of Practice.pdf)).

21 PUB also commenced a two-year study in November 2023, to develop a new Code of Practice to guide and standardise the design, implementation, as well as operation and maintenance of coastal protection measures.

Securing a Supply of Safe Food

22 We are working to transform our aquaculture sector, given its potential to contribute to Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ vision. Along with other Government agencies, SFA is updating the Singapore Aquaculture Plan (SAP) in collaboration with key stakeholders, including industry, academics, nature groups by deep diving into ways to transform the aquaculture sector to be more productive and sustainable. The multi-stakeholder group is midway into its discussions and will consolidate its recommendations in an updated version of the SAP, to serve as a roadmap as we navigate the way forward for the sector (See [Annex G](/cos2024/Annex G - Media Factsheet on Singapore Aquaculture Plan.pdf)).

23 We will introduce a Food Safety and Security Bill to strengthen our food safety and security regime to better protect consumers, and safeguard Singapore’s food supply resilience. Industry consultations are ongoing, and public consultation will be conducted in phases starting from this month.