The environmental services industry, which includes cleaning and waste management, will soon spruce up with the launch of the Environmental Services (ES) Industry Transformation Map (ITM) on 11 December 2017 at Changi Airport Terminal 3.
The initiative will help companies to drive innovation, train workers and improve procurement practices.
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the ES ITM aims to help about 30,000 workers achieve higher-value-added jobs through upskilling and technology adoption by 2025.
Zero Waste Nation
Speaking at the launch, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said: “In sustaining a clean and liveable environment, Singapore is also working towards the vision of being a Zero Waste nation – where waste is re-defined and innovative technologies would be deployed in waste reduction, separation, recycling and treatment to enable us to close the waste loop. Jobs will be enhanced as the future of delivering services via system-level infrastructure calls for new skillsets.”
The NEA worked with various government agencies, the Labour Movement and industry partners to develop the ITM.
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Zainal Sapari said: “We held focus group discussions to hear and get feedback from companies and workers on the ground on the challenges they were facing. NTUC’s focus was mainly to ensure that our workers upgrade their skills to earn better jobs and pay.
“The profile of the workers in the industry varies. In the cleaning sector, they are more elderly. As such, we need to instil a mindset change where they are more comfortable to use technology. I encourage companies to send their workers for training for them to be more familiar with technology.”
Some Initiatives
One of the new initiatives under the ITM is a programme called INCUBATE, where seven organisations, one of which is NTUC Club, agreed to introduce technology trials for cleaning and waste management systems on their premises.
Through the ITM, the Government also hopes to push for a broader adoption of outcome-based contracts with the use of technology, rather than contracts based on manpower headcount.
A new Skills Framework was also launched at the event. It was jointly developed by SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore, NEA, the Labour Movement, and training institutions.
The framework provides employers with information on the skills that are needed for jobs in the cleaning and waste management sectors.
