Lunch With Sumiko On the road to sweeping success

Edy Tan cleans up after Singapore. Every day, his army of 2,700 workers fans out across the island to scrub hundreds of buildings, maintain 1,700km of roads including all 10 expressways, and sweep attractions like Jewel Changi Airport and Resorts World Sentosa. The folk at Chye Thiam Maintenance (CTM) also pick up after the crowds at major events such as the Formula 1 night race, mop up oil spills and clean up traffic accident sites.

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Edy Tan cleans up after Singapore. Every day, his army of 2,700 workers fans out across the island to scrub hundreds of buildings, maintain 1,700km of roads including all 10 expressways, and sweep attractions like Jewel Changi Airport and Resorts World Sentosa.

The folk at Chye Thiam Maintenance (CTM) also pick up after the crowds at major events such as the Formula 1 night race, mop up oil spills and clean up traffic accident sites.

"Carcasses," he says, when I ask about some of the things his staff have to deal with. "Wild boars, cats, dogs, that kind of thing. When they have been run over, we will be activated to clear them."

This happens quite frequently on forest-fringing roads such as the Pan-Island and Bukit Timah expressways, he adds.

Mr Tan, 50, is chief executive officer of CTM, a leading environmental services company that makes over $100 million in revenue annually. It estimates that its cleaning jobs cover 40 per cent of the buildings and road surfaces in Singapore.

The company was started in 1979 by his father, Mr Tan Chye Thiam, after the family's pig farm in Bishan was acquired by the Government to make way for redevelopment.

Mr Tan, the second of four children, joined CTM in 2002, and took over as CEO in 2014. He and his elder sister, Ms Loh Sze Li, the deputy CEO, have helped grow the cleaning business and expand it into areas such as facilities management and waste recycling.

In a labour-intensive industry, automation is a priority, and in November 2024, CTM made headlines for deploying Singapore's first autonomous electric road sweepers at the Esplanade: Theatres By The Bay and Marina Coastal Drive.

Mr Tan was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 in the environmental services category. He was recognised by EY, a professional services company, for transforming the family business and boosting productivity significantly.