Reducing Marine Trash in Singapore

We arranged a meeting yesterday with staff from the Department of Public Cleanliness and the Policy and Planning Division in the National Environment Agency (NEA) to discuss about marine trash, together with Siva from International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and Ria from Wildsingapore.

The objectives of the meeting were to:

1. Understand more about how NEA is clearing the marine trash, and NEA’s strategies and policies in reducing marine trash.
2. Explore how NEA can lead the efforts in coordinating with other government agencies and NGOs, and work together to reduce marine trash.

We shared the following during the meeting:

• Siva: Data and photos from ICCS; top marine trash items; hotspots especially those directly under NEA
• Ria: Photos of marine trash at coasts near fish farms; disposal collection for fish farms
• Eugene: Marine trash from beachgoers; suggestions on reducing marine trash and upstream policies to minimise plastic disposables

Besides cleaning and clearing marine trash, there should be more efforts to reduce marine trash. We hope that NEA can work together with the various stakeholders to address and reduce marine trash over time.

Here’s some of our slides: