More keen on becoming volunteer litterbug-catchers

SINGAPORE — With 60 community volunteers from various non-governmental organisations empowered to catch litterbugs, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that another 50 persons have expressed interest in the scheme and will be undergoing training in the upcoming weeks. Since mid-June, the 60 volunteers from NGOs such as the Public Hygiene Council, Waterways Watch Singapore, and Singapore Environment Council have been trained to follow a set of appropriate protocols to follow when they encounter litterbugs. If they encounter any uncooperative offenders, the volunteers will record their particulars and hand the details over to the NEA. These volunteers are in the process of being issued their authority cards via their NGOs, with the first batch receiving their accreditation cards on July 18. In addition, the authorities have also stepped up enforcement hours from 24,000 man-hours to 35,000 hours per month since May. This has resulted in 478 litterbugs caught in June, a 58 per cent increase compared to the 304 apprehended in May.