Sir, in 2006, Singapore generated about 2.6 million tonnes of refuse which has to be disposed of. Over the festive seasons, where many households spring clean their homes, I was appalled to see many useful things being thrown away – electrical appliances, clothes, toys, etc. It reflects the excesses of consumerism and the erosion of values, which is thrift and life simplification, in our affluent countries.

Hence, I want to congratulate the Ministry for adopting a very sound strategic thrust of waste minimisation, especially at source. Unfortunately, the simple and important 3R message of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle has not taken root amongst Singaporeans yet. Sir, I propose three destinations to which resources can be directed to support this strategy.

First, in the school system. Sir, I was very impressed when I stumbled upon a pre-school teacher teaching package in an NEA portal with the learning goal of implementing the 3Rs in schools. However, when my enthusiastic teachers look further for similar teaching resources for children beyond pre-school and tried to invite officers to teach the students, they were disappointed. I would urge the NEA to continue the good work it has started, and extend the 3Rs education initiative to older students beyond pre-school. And please not just for mainstream schools but also special schools.

Second, in the Town Council system, I propose that all Town Councils seriously adopt waste minimisation as a key strategy in their yearly workplans and develop some KPIs for tracking and accountability. Ad-hoc efforts with a bin here and a bin there will not create any impact. Education of cleanliness and residents given incentives to recycle and simply providing an X number of bins per block for the recyclable materials are some easy steps to take.

Third, in Sungei Road, which is on its way to being dubbed the slum in the city, my residents' frustration that the Sungei Road market – the litter, the unsightliness, unlawful storage of goods, security threats, illegal vendors, etc, – have been discussed in this House. However, there is a great opportunity to turn this problem around with a good solution that solidly supports the Ministry's waste minimisation strategy and even provide work opportunities for my needy and elderly residents.