Woman asks if NEA should ‘do something’ about ‘unhygienic situation’ of dirty tables instead of penalising diners for not returning trays & dishes

SINGAPORE: From June 1 onwards, those who eat at hawker centres, coffee shops and food courts but do not return their used trays and dishes will receive warnings and be fined, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said last month.

But one woman took to social media to ask why nothing was being done to ensure that cleaners thoroughly wiped and cleaned the tables and check whether contractors are engaging enough manpower to do the cleaning.

“While we do our part in returning the tray of used utensils, the cleaning, wiping of used tables in most hawker centres or food courts is not done well,” wrote Ms Susan Ho on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Monday morning (May 8).

Ms Ho asked whether “most cleaners or cleaning contractors are taking for granted” since customers are wiping tables using wet tissues.

She wondered if the NEA should “do something” about “this dirty unhygienic situation instead of just penalising customers of food centres for not returning trays of used utensils?”

Ms Ho also posted a photo of a “dirty table”, which she claimed had been “unattended for hours”.

On April 18, the NEA and the Singapore Food Agency said that enforcement of the tray-and-dish return rule would be stepped up “to reinforce good habits and deter the minority of diners who repeatedly fail to return their used trays and crockery”.

This “aims to ensure that the good efforts of the majority (over 90 per cent) of diners who return their used trays and crockery are not marred by the inconsiderate behaviour of the minority”.

In March, a hawker centre’s tray return station was filled to the brim, with the excess of plates, utensils, leftovers, and trash spilling over onto a table nearby.

Within a few hours of posting, the photo of the full tray station garnered over 200 reactions and more than 100 comments, with netizens calling out Senior Minister of State for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor and Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu. /TISG

Chinatown hawker centre’s tray return overflowing, tables not cleared, netizens blame Amy Khor & Grace Fu