I refer to the reports “This year’s clean toilet campaign to continue focus on flushing out bad habits” (Nov 22) and “Two-thirds of S’poreans find public toilets either as dirty or dirtier than in 2020: Study” (Nov 10).

In the first report, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng said: “There’s this interesting phenomenon – when a place is dirty, people don’t mind making it dirtier, but if it is clean, we won’t want to make it dirty.”

This could be the reason public toilets in shopping malls are in better condition than those in coffee shops. Good infrastructure does make a difference in toilet cleanliness.

In 2020, National Environment Agency (NEA) introduced a Toilet Improvement Programme, with co-funding for improvement works for toilets in hawker centres and coffee shops.

According to the NEA website, this co-funding would run until March 31, 2022. Since more than two-thirds of the 9,400 interviewed perceived public toilets here to be in unfavourable condition, would such co-funding be made available again to encourage more coffee shop owners to improve their washrooms?

Recently, I visited the public toilet at Holland Village Market and Food Centre. The toilet bowls were clean, there was a motion-sensor rubbish bin at the door and a wall fan was directed towards the floor to keep it dry.

The wash basins, shared between the gents and ladies, were placed outside the toilet cubicles, so that water splashes from the basins would not wet the toilet floor.

There was a checklist which indicated that the toilets were checked four times a day. An automated air-freshener and a potted plant placed at a corner added to the positive toilet experience.

No wonder this toilet was given a five-star rating for the Happy Toilet Programme in the market and food centre category by the Restroom Association (Singapore) on Nov 16. 

Hopefully, more public toilets could be upgraded to reach the standard of this “happy toilet”.

Candice Yeo Chay Hoon