We refer to Mr Tay Boon Suat’s letter on how dirty coffee shop toilets are an issue that needs to be addressed (Users must help keep coffee shop toilets clean, Dec 2).

Public toilets at food establishments are an essential amenity, especially to the stallholders, food handlers and cleaners who work there.

Dirty and wet toilets are prone to breeding germs and viruses. It is thus important that the toilets in food establishments are kept hygienically clean.

We need to recognise that keeping public toilets clean is a joint responsibility.

Everyone, including the premises’ operators and the public, has a role to play.

Clean public toilets can be possible only if everyone does their part to keep them clean.

It has been more than a year since the Public Hygiene Council started the Neighbourhood Toilets Community Group initiative to drive home the message of collective responsibility in keeping public toilets clean.

While the initiative started only as a pilot scheme, the participating coffee shop operators and community volunteers observed that toilet cleanliness at their participating premises has improved significantly since the pilot.

More needs to be done, and the first thing to do is to start recognising that we cannot hope for a clean Singapore if the toilets are dirty.

We always think it is someone else’s job to keep public toilets clean.

This is a total misconception; we need to be more civic-minded and adopt a culture of change in picking up litter, as well as in keeping public toilets clean, just like we do in our home.

Andrew Khng

Chairman
Public Hygiene Council