Coffeeshop toilet grants part of holistic approach to improve toilet standards

We refer to Lianhe Zaobao’s article “咖啡店厕所获津贴 是公共利益抑或让业者受惠？” (5 March 2025), and multiple forum letters discussing the effectiveness of providing and administering the grants to coffeeshops to undertake renovation and deep cleaning.

The Public Toilet Taskforce (PTTF) was established in March 2024 to study ways to improve the  cleanliness of our public toilets. It focused on toilets that have consistently performed poorly in cleanliness surveys, including those in coffeeshops. In March 2025, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment endorsed the PTTF’s ten recommendations. One of its recommendations was to provide grants to encourage coffeeshops to undertake renovation and deep cleaning. 

Coffeeshops are privately-operated commercial premises that are extensively distributed throughout our heartlands. However, coffeeshop owners and operators generally make their toilets accessible not just to their patrons, but also non-patrons including seniors, taxi drivers, Private Hire Car drivers and food delivery personnel, as a service to the community. These toilets effectively function as neighbourhood public amenities despite being privately-operated.

 

The Coffeeshop Toilet Renovation Grant aims to support operators in upgrading their toilets for ease of cleaning and maintenance, while the Coffeeshop Toilet Deep-Cleaning Grant supports regular deep cleaning to remove stains and odour. Both grants will require the cleaners to undergo on-site training to ensure proper maintenance of toilets, amongst other conditions set out in the grants. 

The $10 million budget is expected to support 10-20% of Singapore's coffeeshops. These upgraded facilities can serve as positive role models, demonstrating how good designs, trained cleaners, and regular deep cleaning can significantly improve toilet standards. These would in-turn encourage positive and responsible behaviour where users would be more inclined to keep the better-maintained toilets clean. NEA will release details of the grants later this year.

 

We agree that relying on grants is not enough. Government agencies will continue to undertake inspections, enforcement and public education to address toilet cleanliness.  In 2024, the Singapore Food Agency took around 960 enforcement actions against over 500 coffeeshop operators for toilet-related offences. The penalties included warnings, fines and even license suspensions in more egregious cases to ensure that toilet cleanliness standards are upheld. 

NEA also works closely with the Public Hygiene Council, the Restroom Association (Singapore) and the Singapore Kindness movement to educate the public to play their part and keep our public toilets clean.

Together, these measures work hand-in-hand to improve public toilet cleanliness.