Welcome to our latest addition to our digital newsletter, The Window!

Our Tanjong Pagar Town Council has made significant strides toward becoming a zero-waste town, promoting a greener environment, improving energy efficiency, and fostering community engagement.

Here’s what we have been up to in our community:

Zero-Waste Town

We have made significant progress in becoming a zero-waste town by promoting recycling and reducing waste. For example, we expanded our textile recycling bins network over the past year.  Working with partners such as Life Line Clothing, Cloop, and SusGain, we introduced 15 new textile recycling bins across our Town from May 2022 to Apr 2023, before adding another 7 bins in June 2023. With this initiative, you can help to divert clothing and household fabrics from incinerators and landfills and reduce carbon emissions from transportation. Thanks to your support, we collected 71,300 kg of electronic waste (e-waste) for recycling, up from 68,348 kg last year. In collaboration with NEA and Alba Singapore, Tanjong Pagar Town Council was part of a nationwide trial which saw the installation of e-waste bins at 14 of our HDB void decks to collect light bulbs and household batteries.

Greener Environment

Under our “Plant A Tree @ Our Tanjong Pagar” programme, we set a target to plant 1,000 trees with you in 2023. This supports our national OneMillionTrees movement and encourages engagement with our communities. Please join us!  You will get to plant a tree with your family in your neighbourhood, and will receive a photocard and a certificate with 2 QR codes. One code directs you to the interactive TreeSG map to locate your tree, while the other provides a unique Non-Fungible Token (NFT) on OpenSea, making you part of the first NFT urban tree planting initiative by a Town Council!

Energy Efficiency

We also aim to achieve net-zero energy consumption at the common areas of our HDB blocks by 2025. To help us achieve this goal, we will work with HDB and the Economic Development Board (EDB), to install solar panels to harness solar energy and enhance energy efficiency. Dubbed the “SolarNova” programme, we are installing solar panels on 527 HDB blocks to generate solar energy to power common services during the daytime, with excess energy channelled back to the overall electrical grid for other uses.

Community & Engagement

We are the first Town Council to be inducted into the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), affirming our commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. As a member of the UNGC, we gain visibility, and access to resources and initiatives promoting sustainability. We are also the first Town Council to be certified under the GreenDNA and Low Carbon SG programmes. These certifications validate our Town Council’s efforts to champion sustainability, reduce waste, and minimise our carbon footprint. It also reflects on our residents’ commitment toward creating a more sustainable and liveable environment for themselves and their loved ones. Looking forward to more milestones to come!

– MP Alvin Tan Sheng Hui