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Organisations in Singapore recognise the importance of having a clean and green office

Organisations in Singapore recognise the importance of having a clean and green office

Mooncake distributions and a recycling programme are some ways these organisations are giving back to society.

Two organisations in Singapore have increased—and commended—efforts in ensuring their workplace waste management operations are of top-notch quality. They are: United Overseas Bank (UOB), a financial services firm and Deliveroo for Work (DfW), the corporate arm of delivery service provider Deliveroo. The former cared for its cleaning workers by distributing mooncakes, while the latter came up with a recycling programme its followers can adopt.

Looking at UOB, the organisation, during the Mid-Autumn Festival period, had distributed more than 1,600 boxes of mooncakes to more than 100 estate cleaners in appreciation of their ceaseless contribution to maintaining top hygiene standards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further, with Central Singapore Community Development Council's help, it also handed out mooncakes to cleaners engaged by some of its commercial banking clients in the food and beverage business, including Koufu Group, BreadTalk Group, Asian Foodmall, Broadway Group, S-11 Group, Kim San Leng Group, and Badaling Group. Cleaning staff within UOB also received the mooncakes in time for the festive celebration.

Wee Ee Cheong, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, UOB, said: "The pandemic has raised awareness of cleaners as unsung heroes in combating COVID-19. Each day they can be seen putting themselves and their families at risk to keep the virus at bay, ensuring hygiene standards are met so we can continue with our business and family commitments. In giving mooncakes to cleaners this Mid-Autumn Festival, we are sharing the gratitude from the UOB team to those working at the frontline on behalf of Singapore to help us through to better times."

Denise Phua, Mayor of Central Singapore District and Grassroots Adviser, Jalan Besar GRC, also shared how important it is that the contributions of frontliners do not go unnoticed, and are constantly recognised throughout this pandemic.

"Estate cleaners work tirelessly to maintain environment cleanliness and safety. Their work is even more challenging when manpower is often stretched during the pandemic. This gift of appreciation is one way of encouragement to the cleaners. I hope other corporations will do likewise for all our frontliners in Singapore," she added.


ALSO READQ&A: Dean Tong, Head, Group HR, United Overseas Bank


As for DfW, on 20 September (Monday), it announced its partnership with Zero Waste SG, a non-profit sustainability organisation, to develop a corporate recycling programme for its customers. Per its media statement, recycling has become a prominent issue of late because of working-from-home (WFH). While overall waste generated at offices and commercial premises saw a huge decline in 2020, it was noted that the nation's recycling rates also fell to 52% as "COVID-19 slowed down industrial activity and disrupted recycling programmes".

On that note, Deliveroo hopes to raise awareness of the importance of recycling through this programme, and create greener and more sustainable work environments. For those who take up on this programme, Deliveroo will be sponsoring up to 50% of the recycling costs (which is at approximately S$15,000).

In detail, the recycling programme will include an office waste audit; an employee survey, and tailored zero waste solutions.

Sarah Tan, General Manager, Deliveroo Singapore, said: "We are committed to helping our partners become more sustainable whilst encouraging customers to make more environmentally friendly choices. One of the few positive things to come out of COVID-19 is less waste from office and commercial premises. As we look forward to returning to the workplace there is a risk this increases again and we want to support companies in instilling good recycling habits among employees. Through our recycling programme, we can collectively play a part to achieve a cleaner, greener future in the new normal."


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Image / 123RF

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