SINGAPORE - He has spent the past 16 years monitoring Singapore's waterways and picking up litter in rivers and reservoirs with his volunteers.

During the other days of the week, the founder and chairman of environmental group Waterways Watch Society (WWS) Eugene Heng spends time planning programmes and running activities to educate students about the island's waterways.

For such efforts and more, Mr Heng, a 65-year-old retiree, was awarded the country's highest environmental accolade on Tuesday.

The other two recipients of the award were the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), both of which actively promote environmental awareness among its students and include environment-related courses in their curriculum.

Organised by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, the annual award, which recognises individuals and organisations for their contributions towards the environment, received 26 nominations this year.

The three winners each received a trophy and certificate from President Tony Tan Keng Yam at the Istana.

To encourage its students to learn more about the environment, environment-related topics are incorporated in about 70 per cent of ITE's courses.

All three of ITE's campuses - ITE College East, ITE College West and ITE College Central, have also been Green Mark certified. Their green features include installing solar panels on roofs to generate electrical power for the building's use and having ceiling boards made of recycled materials.