On 3 May 2015, 504 Tzu Chi volunteers participated in the event “Operation WE Clean Up!” at five locations where they helped in the litter-picking endeavor and promoted the concept of recycling. (Photo by Chua Teong Seng)
Singapore, known as the “Garden City,” is full of greenery and boasts of clean and orderly streets. This state of affairs actually needs everyone’s cooperation. On 3 May 2015, “Operation WE Clean Up!” commenced in 133 locations across Singapore, where more than 10,000 volunteers in various neighbourhoods picked up some 7,000kg of litter.
The event was a joint effort by the Public Hygiene Council, the Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement, and the Singapore Kindness Movement, under the lead of the National Environment Agency. The day before, cleaners in the designated areas were asked to stop work so that the public could see for themselves the true state of the island city’s cleanliness. This also encouraged the public to care for the earth and be more pro-active in picking up litter that they come across.
Tzu Chi decided to incorporate the clean up operation with its original intention to have a training session for volunteers. Hence, many volunteers gathered at the Jing Si Hall, the two Tzu Chi free clinics, and the Tzu Chi Eco-Awareness Centre before dawn to watch Master Cheng Yen’s early morning Dharma talk first. Then, at 8am, after a briefing, volunteers either took the bus or car-pooled with others to their destination in Ang Mo Kio, Admiralty, Waterloo Street, Bedok or Marine Parade, where they would help clean up litter.
Singapore looks very clean, but in actual fact this is achieved by employing a large number of cleaners. Yet even after the cleaners have finished, Tzu Chi volunteers can still find many small bits of litter in the grass. (Photo by Wang Shui Fa)
A group of Tzu Chi volunteers set off from the Jing Si Hall to travel to the venue of the clean up event. (Photo by Chua See Siew)
Everyone Has a Part to Play
The day was cool as it had rained the night before. The Kwan Im Thong Hood Temple was bustling and lively as it was the fifteenth of the lunar month. Though the busy streets looked clean, Tzu Chi volunteers Khoo Kean Yee and Shen Shun De worked hard to pick up cigarette butts and tissue paper for 45 minutes at an area that was planted with shrubs. As it was surrounded by a fence which made cleaning difficult, the area could easily become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and it was also a reflection of how civic consciousness in our society could be further improved.
“Singapore is our home, it is our duty to clean up our own home, and conserving the environment must start from ourselves.” ENT medical specialist Dr. Ho Eu Chin from the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (Singapore) was not seen with his usual stethoscope, and was cheerfully engaging in his new task as one of the clean up task force members. He shared that Tzu Chi’s activities not only made a contribution to society, they also helped him to develop spiritually. He saw the day’s activity as a learning experience that taught him to work with humility; focusing on picking litter was also an exercise in developing mindfulness.
For 70-year-old Zhuo Gui Jin, the simple action of bending down to pick litter was a challenge as she suffered from chronic backache. Though the repetitive action worsened her pain, she engaged in the endeavour enthusiastically and said, “I take it as exercise because I like doing this.”
Once, she saw aluminium cans and plastic bags being carried along by the wind and worried for the safety of the drivers on the road. From then on, she would pick up litter she saw by the side of the road and bring them home to sort.
Many different age groups had taken part in the clean up activity; many parents had brought along their children, and there were also many elderly folks present. Two elderly volunteers even came with short sticks equipped with nails at the end, which allowed them to gather up litter and dead leaves without the need to bend down. Compared to tongs, the short sticks seemed to work better!
This invention was the brainchild of professional carpenter Zheng Bi Wen, who used part of a broomstick handle to fashion the tool. “It is not good for old people to bend too much, this tool makes it much easier (to pick litter).”
Volunteer Khoo Kean Yee and Shen Shun De spent 45 minutes picking up cigarette butts and tissue paper at an area of shrubbery in a housing estate. (Photo by Chua Teong Seng)
ENT medical specialist Dr. Ho Eu Chin from TIMA Singapore saw the day’s activity as a learning experience that taught him to work with humility. (Photo by Chua Teong Seng)
Incorporating Recycling Into Our Daily lives
Whenever Tzu Chi volunteers met with a curious gaze or question from the public, they would warmly promote recycling to them or bring them over to designated spots where there were recycling posters set up before explaining the principles and method to do so.
Long-time volunteers Liu Li Qing and Ni Shan Qing made use of every opportunity to spread the message of recycling. “I just shared with a Malay youth and an old man that the PET bottles they have collected can be made into the blue shirt I am wearing. We only have one earth, so everybody should treasure our limited resources.” Liu hoped that everybody would make an effort to recycle PET bottles.
Ni also managed to invite three passers-by to participate in Tzu Chi’s monthly recycling activities. One lady was so inspired by the sight of three-year-old Zhang Pin Jie picking litter alongside his parents that she wished to bring her child along for recycling activities too. “Comparatively, children who engage in recycling cherish their things more; they also tend not to pester their parents into buying new things,” said Ni.
Volunteers also focused on the concepts of “purity at source” and “recycling starts at home.” In less than two hours, Lu Xiao Yan had approached more than ten passers-by. Some of them expressed surprise and admiration that a Buddhist organization like Tzu Chi would want to join in a clean up activity and promote recycling. She said that perhaps because of the increasingly frequent climatic anomalies the world has been experiencing, many people are concerned about this topic. She therefore gave out her flyers and invited them to join in the monthly recycling activities, that they may learn about sorting recyclables and do their bit as a citizen of the country.
Ouyang Wen Wang and his family, tourists from Taiwan, were impressed by the humility of volunteers as they lead members of the public on in the endeavour. He described the Tzu Chi volunteers as apple seeds; no one can predict how many fruits each seed could produce when they matured into trees.
Zheng Bi Wen (right), who has experience in woodwork, fashioned a litter-picking tool from a broomstick handle. (Photo by Chua Teong Seng)
Medical Home Care team member Huang Yun Shan brought along her maid and family, including her three-year-old son, to help pick litter. (Photo by Chua Teong Seng)
Towards a Cleaner and Greener City
At the Ang Mo Kio venue, Mr. V. Balasubramaniam, grassroots manager of the Jalan Kayu Division of the Ang Mo Kio Town Council, who spoke at the opening ceremony, said that such environmentally-friendly activities should be frequently organized as they would raise the environmental awareness of the general public, decrease the amount of rubbish generated, and thus the load on the environment.
Xie Qin Long works in the waste management and recycling business and commented on how he noticed that the amount of rubbish produced by the community seems to be on the uptrend. There are still people in our midst who throw unrecyclable items such as used tissue and oily pizza boxes into the recycling bins. He feels that the environmental awareness here needs to be improved, and that Singaporeans are still lagging behind the Taiwanese in this area.
In 2014, the Public Hygiene Council visited Taiwan to learn about their environmental cleanliness measures and were inspired to get the public to participate in various activities, thus encouraging them to transform their enthusiasm into beneficial actions for the environment on their own accord. The council subsequently increased their public education efforts and this year the clean up operation has expanded from just the Bedok constituency to 133 sites.
Head of Tzu Chi Singapore’s Recycling Mission Xu Zhen Yao commented that during the operation, they had removed litter from the areas of greenery that cleaners had missed out and further sorted them for recycling. These efforts reduced the amount of waste that was left behind. He elaborated that the main focus of the day’s activity was to educate the public on recycling; waste that could be re-used in other ways are just mis-allocated resources and should not be simply discarded.
At the five locations where a total of 504 Tzu Chi volunteers were stationed, about 349kg of unrecyclable waste and 200kg of recyclable waste were collected. Rather than to rely on cleaners, Singapore needs every single one of us to be aware of our impact on the environment and to take the initiative to keep it clean; only then can we continue to have a lasting claim to fame as the “Garden City.”
Volunteer Lu Xiao Yan (centre) took the opportunity to explain the importance of maintaining cleanliness in the environment to a passerby. (Photo by Ong Chun Suan)
Ouyang Wen Wang (with camera), a Taiwanese tourist, was impressed by the humility of volunteers as they led members of the public on in the endeavour. (Photo by Pua Poo Toong)
Volunteers attracted the attention of many as they picked up litter at the HDB estates and streets. (Photo by Chua See Siew)
Head of Tzu Chi Singapore’s Recycling Mission Xu Zhen Yao (left) seized the opportunity to explain recycling to members of the public. This was a change from the usual activities which did not require him to take the initiative to approach others. (Photo by Ng Sher Lin)
At the end of the day’s event, volunteers of the Tzu Chi recycling point in Admiralty sorted through the rubbish they collected and posed for a group photo. (Photo by Pua Poo Toong)
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