One of the possible reasons that Singapore seems to be so clean is a commitment by the government to the cleanliness of public toilets. Public restrooms are viewed by the local population and government alike as much more than just a restroom — they are as important as clean streets and green parks.
The government has created a culture of cleanliness that permeates throughout all aspects of the country. Following the country’s independence in 1965, the government made significant investments into changing how people viewed and practiced littering and sanitation.
With these changes, the government established clear goals in their efforts: build a city that appeared clean, felt clean, and would remain clean for years to come.
The goal of establishing a “clean” Singapore has paid dividends. As a result of this goal, visitors to Singapore frequently report that it is difficult to find trash in public spaces within the country. Every area of the city (to include sidewalks, parks, and restrooms) reflects the city’s commitment to strict cleanliness standards.
Public toilets in Singapore are heavily regulated, monitored, and funded by the government. The standards of operation are clearly defined and enforced, with the possibility of fines occurring for violations.
If you forget to flush the toilet after using it in a public restroom, you can be fined up to 150 Singapore dollars for the first offense. For a second offense, the financial penalty for the same violation increases to 500 Singapore dollars.
The message is simple: everyone should be responsible for keeping clean!
Moving on to recent events, Singapore has established a public toilet task force through legislation unifying the various laws and ordinances about toilets, including cleaning and maintenance, into the newly enacted and unified Public Health Act (effective January 1, 2024). This task force will be conducting surveys of public toilets and inspecting them for cleanliness and a lack of maintenance to identify which public toilets need attention.
The Public Toilet Task Force is acting as a quality control system for toilets.
If a public toilet meets the standards of cleanliness and decorum, it can be certified through the Happy Toilet Programme, a programme put into effect by the Restroom Association of Singapore in 2003.
Believe it or not, but public toilets can earn stars, just like a hotel!
The stars are earned on a scale of 1-6 depending on the cleanliness, the comfort of the toilet, how well it’s been maintained, and the overall customer satisfaction regarding the toilet’s use. The purpose of the star rating system is to encourage operators to take pride in their restrooms and keep them in a clean, safe, and comfortable manner.
Why, because we all go to the toilet several times a day!
To assist business owners as well as provide a consequence for having an unclean toilet, they will also provide business owners with funding for up to 95 percent of the cost of renovating and repairing their toilets, as well as additional funding in the tens of thousands of dollars in their grant to be given to the business owner.
The combination of strict legislation, public education, and financial assistance creates the basis of having clean toilets. The issue is whether or not businesses will take responsibility for keeping their facilities clean and if they do not, the enforcement portion will be activated.
Singaporean culture places high importance on maintaining a clean toilet facility and therefore takes enforcement actions against those businesses that do not provide or maintain clean toilets. Singapore’s reasons for enforcing cleanliness within their toilet facilities have little to do with toilets themselves but rather with building trust and reputation for their country as being a discipled society. The building of trust between the country and its tourists creates pride in Singapore for its citizens.
Singapore has an extensive, well-structured, and highly regulated system for maintaining cleanliness. The idea of how much emphasis and diligence there is placed upon maintaining cleanliness is reflected in the way Singapore manages every aspect of its people’s daily lives, right down to the bathrooms.
To put it plainly, Singapore’s image would be ruined if clean toilets were not part of the way that they do business with the world.
