Northland Primary School @ Sembawang Beach, 13th September 2014

Posted on 29 September 2014 by beckyleemeihui

Mr Manivanan Muthu Somasundram, a teacher at Northland Primary School, led a group of 7 students to Sembawang Park on the 13th of September, filling 9 trash bags which weighed a total of 47 kg.

The litter collected consisted largely of plastic items, namely plastic bags, disposable beverage bottles, straws, food wrappers and take out containers. The most commonly seen item of the day were cigarette butts, which littered the coastline.

Thank you and your students for your work in protecting our shores!

Photos by Manivanan Muthu Somasundram.

Captains recce tour of the Northeast

Posted on 3 April 2011 by NoKoSo

I like this time of the year when the Northeast Zone coastal cleanup captains (Cheong Wei Siong, Lim Chen Kee and myself) recce our sites. Besides the serious assessment work, I personally enjoy the opportunity to see places in Singapore I don’t normally visit. Also, I get to catch up with my deputy zone captains, who are my good friends and partners in crime, with whom I have collaborated with for so many years.

From west to east, we covered the sites in our “vast” zone – the peaceful Sembawang, the hidden Selimang, the trash-laden Sungei Seletar and the ever-changing Punggol. And embarrassingly, for me, this is the first time I visited Sembawang and Selimang!

Tranquil Sembawang
My first impression of Sembawang was of its tranquility, despite the adjacent shipyard. We saw a father bring his son out to fish and a golden retriever that jumped happily into the water. The trashload here is light and this should be an easy site for first-timers.

Sembawang Beach (Notice the golden retriever in the background!)

Hidden Selimang
Next up – Selimang. We drove down the small Jalan Selimang road, passing by the quaint kampong-like mosque, the Masjid Petempatan Melayu Sembawang, to reach this site. This small site has a high density trashload, littered with broken glass. It looks suitable for older students and adults.

Selimang

Trash-laden Sungei Seletar
Leaving Selimang, we visited our newest site at Sungei Seletar which was “rubbish galore”. We were shocked by Sungei Seletar 1 and I exclaimed, “Which part is the land and which part is the sea?”

S. Seletar 1 - Where is the land and sea divide?!

It was certainly hard to tell for all you see is trash, trash and more trash! I no longer think the phrase “rubbish galore” can accurately describe the site. It’s a “sinful seaful of trash”. Chen Kee and Wei Siong remarked that this was like Kranji when we first started there (side-note: this is very telling of how long they have been with ICCS!).

Well , the upside to such “horror scenes” is the motivational boost to find a tough, hardworking group to work at the site – yes, we getting warmed up for ICCS 2011!

S. Seletar 1 - A sea full of trash

Ever-changing Punggol
The last site we staggered to (after that scene) was Punggol – the face of Singapore’s developing landscape. Every year, we are welcomed by changes in its facade and actually take awhile to find the shore! The Park Connector Network is now a nice and easy walk and by the time of our cleanup in September, I suppose there will be new park facilities like toilets as well – it does look almost ready to open!

Punggol beach from the new Park Connector Network

And so it was a happy Saturday morning for me, touring the ICCS Northeast Zone. Join us there for a cleanup!

P/S: We cannot report on Pasir Ris sites, especially the trash-laden Site 6 yet. The tide beat us to it! Site 6 was submerged but visible in the distance were dots of trash. We will be back!

Ng Kai Scene
Northeast Zone Captain
International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Scomi Marine stormed Jalan Selimang

Posted on 12 September 2009 by weisiongg

Saturday morning. – a quiet corner at Sembawang: 16 volunteers, 20 trash bags. 165kg. No easy feat.

Scomi Marine Services Pte Ltd reached their cleanup site, Jalan Selimang, at about 8.30am. The volunteers were already grouped in fours. The cleanup was off to a gradual start but the pace picked up and everyone was immersed with collecting trash, data recording and moving filled trash bags to the Trash Weighing Point.

Jeans @ Selimang Beach

The interesting finds at this new site include a steel lamp, a pair of jeans, car parts and a 55 gallon drum. A very common item found buried in the soil were plastic sheets — the exhausted team had an arduous time pulling the sheets out their deep entrenchment in the sand and out of the shallow waters after!

It was VERY VERY heartening was the fact that the volunteers understood the rationale behind the cleanup, and despite a scorching sun and treacherous soft mud and sand, all of them kept up cheery spirits as they did their best for the environment.