Netizen concerned about how tray-clearing initiative could attract birds to flock at return stations and pose serious hygiene issues

Singapore — A netizen pointed out a complication that might arise due to the new tray-clearing initiative that the government is introducing to hawker centres.

He put up a post on Facebook, commenting that if tray and crockery return stations are not regularly maintained, it can attract wild animals such as birds.

The netizen added that the new initiative being implemented by the government could potentially lead to serious health issues. He also urged those who read the post to bring the issue up by highlighting it on the OneService application.

The OneService application was developed by Singapore’s Ministry of National Development to provide a convenient channel where members of the public can report municipal issues within Singapore with ease.

In his post, the netizen also included a picture of two pigeons sitting on top of a plate.

Many netizens took to the comments section to share their views on the matter.

A few agreed with the poster and worried about how the birds may cause germs and viruses to be spread around.

A few netizens provided suggestions on how the problem might be rectified. One proposed adding plastic covers or curtains to tray and crockery return stations in order to prevent birds from eating leftovers at hawker centres.

However, some pointed out that even without the initiative, birds were likely to flock to tables to feast on leftovers which would have been more unhygienic for the next patron dining there.

A few other netizens said that they didn’t see much of an issue, since the birds were essentially eating the leftovers that hawker patrons discarded.

Netizens have also pointed out other problems and issues with the tray-clearing initiative such as tray and crockery return stations being overfilled.

You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG