Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Restroom Association (Singapore) gears up for World Toilet Day

With the United Nations General Assembly designating 19th November as World Toilet Day, the Restroom Association (Singapore) - known as RAS, is organising the inaugural Singapore WASH Conference, LOO Carnival and Hawker Centre Happy Toilet Cleanup to coincide World Toilet Day.

The Singapore WASH Conference will be held for the first time at the Tampines Regional Library's auditorium on 19th November from 09.00 to 18.00.

The conference aims to provide building owners and qualified persons with information about WASH regulations, guidelines, planning, practices and promotion. Key highlights of the conference are the LOO Awards ceremony and the publication of the third edition of the Guide to Better Public Toilet Design & Maintenance - a guide that was first published in 1999.

With HDB as the venue sponsor, the LOO Carnival will be held at five shopping malls from 21st October to 24th November to raise public awareness about World Toilet Day. The key message this year is 'Ignite a SPARK - Share, Promote & Adopt Restroom Kindness.'

A total of 51 hawker centres under the Happy Toilet Programme will be invited to participate in a Happy Toilet Cleanup on World Toilet Day.

Invitations have been sent to Members of Parliament to lead the cleanup at their respective constituencies where the hawker centres are located.
"Since the inception of World Toilet Day in 2001, RAS has been organising events to commemorate it every year," says Ms Tan Puay Hoon, President of RAS. "With the United Nations designating 19th November as World Toilet Day this year, we wish to organise more impactful events to raise public awareness. As RAS ignites a SPARK (Share, Promote & Adopt Restroom Kindness), we hope everyone can burn with an eternal flame of restroom kindness towards cleaning attendants, fellow users and 2.5 billion people around the world, still without a toilet."

The vision of RAS is 'A Gracious Society Embracing Excellence in Restroom Culture'. Started in 1998 as a non-profit organisation, RAS is dedicated to building an excellent washroom culture by actively engaging owners, the cleaning industry and users to play their part. Some of its programmes or activities - supported by the National Environment Agency - initiated and conducted include the Happy Toilet Programme, Happy Toilet School Education programme for Preschools, STAR (Sustaining Toilets As Restrooms) Awards Programme, Eco-Assessor Programme and LOO (Let's Observe Ourselves) Carnival & Awards. RAS is a strategic partner in national community events like Clean & Green Singapore and is also a founding member of the World Toilet Organization and the Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement.

World Toilet Day has been observed annually on 19th November since 2001. This international day of action aims to break the taboo around toilets and raise global awareness of the daily struggle for proper sanitation that a staggering 2.5 billion people face.

The Singapore WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) Conference's target audience is building owners and qualified persons such as architects, engineers, environmental and facilities management professionals and the focus of the event will be WASH Regulations & Guidelines, WASH Planning, WASH Practices and WASH Promotion. The organisers tell us that it will not only serve as an informative platform, since the planned panel discussions will also create a sharing platform for identifying key WASH challenges and available solutions.

- WASH Regulations and Guidelines: Government agencies such as the Building & Construction Authority and National Environment Agency will share latest regulatory updates and seek feedback from the audience to consider for future revisions if necessary. RAS will share the latest Guide to Better Public Toilet Design & Maintenance and seek feedback from the audience to consider for future revisions if necessary.
- WASH Planning: The Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore will share on planning for sustainability while Singapore Workforce Development Agency will share on training.
- WASH Practices: Environmental Management Association of Singapore will share best practices in environmental management. NEA will share the Enhanced Clean Mark Accreditation Scheme.
- WASH Promotion: LienAid, RAS and World Toilet Organization will share on community-based programmes and activities that are promoting WASH to the public.

The first LOO (Let's Observe Ourselves) Carnival 2013 was organised in 2010 at the National Library Building to commemorate World Toilet Day and raise public awareness on the right washroom culture. Since 2010, the carnival has been held only at one venue with the exception of this year, when, for the first time, the carnival will be held island-wide.

HDB is sponsoring the following venues for the LOO Carnival:
- Pasir Ris West Plaza, 21st Oct to 27th Oct
- Dawson Place, 28th Oct to 3rd Nov
- Taman Jurong Shopping Centre, 4th Nov to 10th Nov
- Fajar Shopping Centre, 11th Nov to 17th Nov
- Rivervale Plaza, 18th Nov to 24th Nov

The key message for the LOO Carnival this year is ignite a SPARK - Share, Promote & Adopt Restroom Kindness. With the United Nations designating 19th November as World Toilet Day this year, the taboo subject of toilets has been broken. SPARK aims to inspire everyone to not only share but also promote and adopt it. Restroom kindness is viewed as demonstrating kindness towards the following people:

- Washroom cleaning attendants
- Fellow users
- 2.5 billion people in the world still without a toilet

Exhibitions, games and activities promoting the key message will be held for one week at each shopping mall. Exhibitions will be held on weekdays while games and activities will be held at weekends.

The Hawker Centre Happy Toilet Cleanup Programme (HTP) was launched by Mr Lim Swee Say, the former Minister for the Environment on 1st July 2003. The HTP was developed and implemented by RAS with the strong support from the National Environment Agency. RAS has been working with toilet owners in various sectors like shopping centres, industrial & commercial buildings, parks, tourist attractions and hawker centres.

There are currently a total of 111 hawker centres with 51 hawker centres under the HTP. Participating organisations (in alphabetical order) are Ang Mo Kio Town Council, East Coast Town Council, JTC, NEA, Nee Soon Town Council, Tampines Town Council and Tanjong Pagar Town Council.

The HTP is a star-grading initiative for public toilets which focuses on the areas of Design, Cleanliness, Maintenance, Effectiveness and Satisfaction. Users will also leave the washroom happy, as the programme will ensure that they have the best experience, with all their needs met.

The cornerstone of the HTP is a grading system, based on minimum and progressive standards that start at 3 stars and can be awarded up to a maximum of 5 stars.

Application is open to all owners of public toilets in Singapore, anytime throughout the year. Once graded, the certification of quality has 12 months' validity. 'Happy Toilets' will be promoted through the RAS website so that the public can identify star graded facilities.

3 stars = Good and Clean Restrooms:

- Facilities in working condition
- Provision of basic amenities i.e. hand soap, toilet paper, etc
- No odour, litter-free
- Reasonably dry floor and facilities
- Customer Satisfaction

4 stars = Good Restrooms:

- Facilities in working condition
- Provision of basic amenities i.e. hand soap, toilet paper, etc
- No odour, litter-free
- Reasonably dry floor and facilities
- Customer Satisfaction
- Special delights and user-friendly facilities

5 stars = Premium Restrooms:

- Facilities in working condition
- Provision of basic amenities i.e. hand soap, toilet paper, etc
- No odour, litter-free
- Reasonably dry floor and facilities
- Customer Satisfaction
- Special delights, user-friendly and eco-friendly facilities

For more details, visit: www.toilet.org.sg

The LOO (Let's Observe Ourselves) Awards are open to all organisations and individuals in Singapore. They take into account all efforts made by an organisation and individual in promoting and enhancing the standard of washroom cleanliness.

There are three (3) LOO Awards categories open for nominations: Organisation, Cleaning Industry and Individual.

Organisations are selected in the following categories:

- Private Sector/Public Sector
- Educational Institution
Cleaning Industry is selected in the following categories:
- Cleaning Service Provider
- Restroom Cleaning Attendant
Individuals are selected in the following categories:
- Private/Public sector individual
- Youth (includes members of youth groups, youths in tertiary institutions, secondary
- and primary school students)
The following categories are not open for nominations...
Best Happy Toilets are selected in the following categories:
- Coffee Shop
- Food Court
- Market and Food Centre
- Shopping Centre
- Happy Toilet of the Year

Star Eco-Assessor is selected under the Individual category.
T: +65 6297 9824
E: [email protected]
W: www.toilet.org.sg

31st October 2013