NEA increases visibility of Corrective Work Order sessions by holding them in city areas

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has started holding Corrective Work Order (CWO) sessions in city areas to increase awareness of littering.

The first two CWO sessions in city areas were held in Chinatown on Nov 15 and Tanjong Pagar on Nov 17. These sessions were held in littering hotspots and areas where many people congregate, and standees were placed around the area to highlight the ongoing CWO session.

Introduced in 1992, the CWO serves to increase awareness of the impact of littering among recalcitrant offenders and let them experience the difficulties faced by cleaners. It requires offenders to clean public areas for a minimum of three hours and up to a maximum of 12 hours.

An average of 27,200 tickets for littering and high-rise littering were issued annually from 2017 to 2021. In that time, about 10,200 CWOs were issued to offenders.

These offenders are often males between 18 and 35 years old. Littering most commonly occurs in neighbourhood centres, areas around hawker centres, MRT stations, and shopping malls.

Ground surveys show that cigarette butts also end up being one of the most commonly littered items.

The maximum fine for a littering offence is $2,000 for the first court conviction, $4,000 for the second conviction, and $10,000 for the third and subsequent convictions. Since 1992, offenders prosecuted in court for littering may be issued a fine and sentenced to perform CWO.