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RAS releases the first 3-year blueprint on
public restrooms
RAS
held a media conference on 16th December to share the key findings and
recommendations of a 70-page Inter-Agency Working Committee (IAWC)
report, which is also a 3-year blueprint on public restrooms. In total,
there are 35 recommendations in the report which fall under three key
sections namely the Owners & Operators (O&O), Contactors &
Cleaners (C&C) and Users. On O&O, the findings and  recommendations
cover cleanliness, maintenance, design and standards. On C&C, it
covers accreditation schemes and training and growing the cleaning
industry. On Users, it covers education, awareness and recognition.
The
inception of the IAWC in October 2008 was part of a long-term plan to
achieve clean public toilets. Co-chaired by the RAS and World Toilet
Organization (WTO), three sub-committees namely the O&O, C&C and
Users, were formed to study problems persisting with dirty toilets. Each
sub-committee met quarterly to brainstorm solutions and updated each other
on the findings and recommendations. RAS consolidated the details and
submitted the report in September 2010. RAS also incorporated all
comments from the government agencies such as the National Environment
Agency (NEA), Spring Singapore, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and
Workforce Development Agency (WDA) into its final report.
[News
Reports] [IAWC Report]
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RAS shares its
key initiatives with attendees at the World Toilet Summit
At the 10th annual World
Toilet Summit (WTS) held in the US for the first time from 31st October
to 3rd November, RAS shared with the attendees about its close
partnership with the government agencies which included working with the
NEA on a revised guideline of providing more female toilets in 2005. The
audience were pleased to learn of the success of the 3P (Public, Private
and People Sectors) partnership in Singapore especially the inception of
an IAWC to work together towards the provision of clean public restrooms.
The
WTO partnered with the International Code Council (ICC) to hold the WTS
with thousands of attendees and over 300 exhibitors specialising in
plumbing  and
sanitation, coming together for this event. Topics of the sessions
covered innovative toilet designs, market-based sanitation solutions,
cleaning services & supplies, potty parity and advocacy. On the
“Channels that advocate sanitation” session, RAS shared on
partnerships between NGOs and government together with US Ambassador Mr
John W. McDonald who shared on influencing good sanitation policy.
[More
Details]
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RAS organises
its first LOO (Let’s Observe Ourselves) Carnival
RAS
organised its first three-day carnival from 3rd to 5th December in
conjunction with its LOO (Let’s Observe Ourselves) Awards ceremony
which was held for the first time last year. A total of 40 nominations
were received and 21 recipients were selected to receive the awards from
Guest-of-Honour Dr Amy Khor, Minister of State for the Environment and Water
Resources at the National Library Building. The 21 recipients also
included five recipients under a new Best Happy Toilet category namely
the best coffeeshop, hawker centre, foodcourt, shopping centre and Happy
Toilet of the Year 2010.
The awards ceremony
was held on the first day of the carnival. At the carnival, partners and
sponsors namely the NEA, PUB, Singapore Cancer Society, WDA, WTO,
Rentokil Initial, Qool Enviro and Northern Ecotech  featured
products and services related to the restroom environment. RAS also
showcased its mobile exhibition – RAS Learning Pavilion – on
the different facets of sanitation development in Singapore since the
1960s. Visitors to the carnival also attended talks and participated in
educational games and activities such as the Loo Quest, a
restroom-etiquette version of snakes and ladders.
[View Videos] [View
Photos]
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RAS launches
its first LOO (Let’s Observe Ourselves) @ Heartlands campaign
After
the media conference on the IAWC report, RAS launched its public
awareness campaign, LOO@Heartlands on 16th
December at the 21 Street Eating House – the first coffeeshop with 5-star Happy Toilet – in
Tampines. This campaign would begin at food & beverage (F&B)
outlets with Happy Toilets. Pocket tissue packets specially-designed with
catchy messages would be  distributed
to toilet visitors during peak hours from noon to 2pm and/or 5pm to 7pm
for a period of three to seven days. Catchy messages such as “Enter
in a rush, leave with a flush” and “We aim to please, you AIM
TOO please” are some slogans to remind users to adopt the right
restroom etiquette. Close to 800 tissue packets were distributed to
toilet visitors at the 21 Street Eating House for a period of five days
from 13th to 17th December.
RAS
launched this campaign as part of its bid to support one of the IAWC
report’s recommendations on public awareness campaign. This
campaign was also launched to help Happy Toilet owners from the F&B
outlets to continue to offer quality toilets. RAS has received feedback
from the owners on the challenges of maintaining the cleanliness due to
irresponsible users. Annual surveys for the past three years still
revealed that more than 70% of the respondents had attributed dirty
toilets to irresponsible users. RAS is targeting to reach out to all
F&B outlets with Happy Toilets over a period of three years from
2011.
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RAS hosts study visit for
Hainan government delegates
On 25th November, RAS hosted a half-day study
visit for a group of Hainan government delegates. During the visit, our
President shared useful information and some of our programmes with the
delegates. She also hosted a guided tour for the group at three locations
beginning with Blk 628 Ang Mo Kio Hawker
Centre, the centre with the best 5-star Happy Toilet followed by Parkview
Primary School, one of the LOO Awards recipients this year and lastly at
Street 21 Eating House, the first coffeeshop
with 5-star Happy Toilet.
The delegates were here for
a visit to learn of Singapore’s experience in tackling problems
pertaining to dirty toilets so as to better prepare themselves when they
host the World Toilet Summit next year. This is the second time that the
summit is held in Mainland China. It was held in Beijing in 2004 with the
intention of gearing up for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games. The summit
resulted in the renovation of 4,000 public toilets in Beijing with other
cities following suit. We thank the management of Ang Mo Kio Hawker
Centre, 21 Street Eating House and Park View Primary School for
graciously accommodating our visit.
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RAS conducts talks and training workshops for working professionals
RAS
conducted a series of talks and training workshops from October to
November. The topics of the talks covered social graciousness including restroom
etiquette, hygiene practices and restroom standards i.e. three, four and
five-star standards of the Happy Toilet Programme. The training workshops
equipped participants with useful knowledge and practical skills to
inspect the cleanliness of restrooms based on a checklist used for the
assessment of Happy Toilets.
On 27th October, RAS conducted a training
workshop for the employees and cleaning contractors of the National
Library Board followed by a similar  training workshop
for the workers at the construction site of a condominium along Balmoral Road on 25th November. Talks were also
conducted to the facilities management staff of shopping centres at the
NEA’s North West Regional Office and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
at its office building on 3rd and 23rd November respectively.
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RAS participates actively
in Clean and Green Singapore (CGS) events
RAS
was invited by the NEA to showcase its exhibits at the Clean & Green
Singapore (CGS) 2011 Launch & Carnival from 6th to 7th November
followed by the CGS Schools' Carnival from 10th to 11th November. The CGS
2011 Campaign was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong on 6 November 2010. In one of the exhibits at the launch, RAS was
featured as one of the founding members of the Keep Singapore Beautiful
Movement (KSBM) which aims to mobilise our community to take action
to protect and sustain our precious living environment.
RAS was also invited to other community events
such as the Woodlands Community Day and the Pasir Ris-Punggol
Town Day on 31st October and 12 December respectively to share its
programmes and initiatives with the public. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan was present as the Guest-of-Honour  (GOH) at the
Woodlands Community Day while Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean was present as the GOH at the biannual Pasir
Ris-Punggol Town Day to meet up with the
residents in Pasir Ris-Punggol Town. The
objective of the event is to promote and spread the ‘gracious
living’ message to all residents in Pasir Ris-Punggol
Town.
[More Details]
[View CGS Launch Photos] [View
Schools’ Carnival Photos]
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