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RAS partners with Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) to launch certification of smart restroom products

With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between RAS and SGBC, restroom products with Detect, Feedback, Eliminate & Clean (DFEC) smart features will now be certified under the Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) certification scheme. The new certification leverages SGBC’s existing proficiency in green building product certification and complements the Happy Toilet Programme (HTP) grading system for public toilets to raise the standard of restroom products. The MOU was formally signed during the 13th LOO (Let’s Observe Ourselves) Awards ceremony, graced by Guest-of-Honour Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Dr. Amy Khor.

The first DFEC product categories launched for certification are hand dryers, ceramic tiles and smart control systems. With the growing emphasis on energy conservation as well as public hygiene, SGBC worked closely with RAS to develop the appropriate certification criteria for these products to ensure that they would tick the boxes for efficiency and public health. Usage of these certified products will fulfil HTP certification criteria and go towards a higher rating. The new HTP criteria took effect in April 2020, with 4-star rated toilets needing to adopt at least one of the four types of DFEC solutions while 5-star rated toilets have to adopt at least two of the four, with 6-star rated toilets needing to adopt all four types of solutions. With the launch of the new certification programme, all toilets rated 4-stars and above will need to adopt SGBC-certified DFEC solutions, with implementation in phases.

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RAS gives out 44 awards at the 13th LOO (Let’s Observe Ourselves) Awards

44 exemplary organisations and individuals were recognised at the 13th LOO Awards. Among the recipients, a record 30 outstanding restroom attendants, who each received $200 worth of grocery vouchers, were also recognised as a gesture of deep appreciation for their crucial contributions during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Yap Beng Teck from A-Force Maintenance Pte Ltd was commended by Guest of Honour Dr Amy Khor for achieving the highest categorical score among the attendants. Mr Yap, with 17 years of experience in the cleaning sector consistently upgraded himself to complete four WSQ environmental cleaning modules within a year.

Dr Khor expressed her happiness on the collaboration between RAS and SGBC and cited award recipients Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd as a good example on the adoption of smart restroom solutions to increase productivity. Two young champions were also singled out by Dr Khor in her speech. Alyssa Ho from Riverside Primary School and Htate Htar Khin from Bukit View Primary School led school projects to remind their peers to be considerate and gracious. Alyssa led the Environmental Science Club to execute projects on creating education posters and inspecting the restrooms while Htar Khin not only created posters for school toilet display but also made a short video clip on good restroom etiquette to encourage pupils to keep the restrooms clean. From their contributions, these two youngest award recipients have subtly taught us that everyone can make a difference to the restroom environment.

RAS supports filming of MediaCorp’s children factual programme

RAS received an email invitation from MediaCorp about featuring in one of the episodes of Mind Blown to share about its LOO Awards. Instead of RAS staff sharing about the awards, RAS suggested its young award recipients to participate since the programme was mainly targeting children. Therefore, Parkview Primary School student Patil Prisha Gurunath participated in the filming in August. She was our LOO Awards 2020 recipient under the LOO Kidz individual category and she was awarded for undertaking restroom assessments and providing feedback to the school to improve the standard of the restrooms. Prior to assessing the cleanliness of restrooms, she was trained by the RAS on good standard of restroom assessment.

Amongst other young award recipients, Patil was selected by MediaCorp to participate in the filming as there was a fun segment in the episode on assessing the best restroom-cleaning winners. Apart from undertaking restroom assessments, Patil also designed and conceptualised Covid-19 posters for display in restrooms. She experienced the work of cleaning attendants by undertaking cleaning tasks of common areas and also shared good restroom etiquette with the school during assembly. All the above contributions earned her the LOO Kidz award in 2020.