SINGAPORE: A Facebook user posted a series of videos showing what appears to be at least two women caught throwing trash from the corridor of the building where they live.
“Never-ending high-rise littering,” wrote the post author, Sohibo Netads, on the Complaint Singapore group page on Tuesday (Oct 22), sharing the videos from their own account.
The clips, taken from a CCTV camera installed in a building hallway in front of a lift, are dated May 28, 2024; June 9, 2024; Sept 24, 2024; and Oct 22, 2024.
The remaining video is labelled 2024.
In it, women can be seen nonchalantly pitching various small items out the window as though this is the most normal thing to do in the world.
In a few videos, the women appear to be doing this while tidying up the area on the left of the lift landing, occupied by a shoe rack, a low table with a plant, and other objects.
The Independent Singapore has contacted Sohibo Netads for further clarifications, comments, or updates on their post.
Netizens commenting on the videos seemed to share the post author’s frustration. “What’s wrong with them?” wrote one.
Others suggested that the post author file a report via the OneService app or send it to the National Environment Agency (NEA), urging that the videos be sent as proof.
Some suggested buying a dustbin for the area.
One commented that throwing litter out the window had already become “a habit” for such women.
In Singapore, high-rise littering is taken seriously.
The NEA reiterated on June 30, 2023, that it is an offence under section 17(1) to litter from residential flats under the Environmental Public Health Act 1987 (EPHA).
“Littering from residential flats is a serious offence, as it poses a danger to the public, dirties the environment, and threatens public hygiene.
Any individual who litters is liable on conviction to a court fine of up to $2,000 for a first conviction, $4,000 for a second conviction, and $10,000 for the third and subsequent convictions.
The court may also impose a Corrective Work Order, requiring offenders to clean public areas for up to 12 hours.”
What’s more, high-rise littering has been on the rise over the past few years.
From an average of 19,100 instances per year from 2017 to 2019, the NEA investigated an average of 31,200 high-rises littering feedback from 2020 to 2022, an increase of about 64 per cent. /TISG
Read also: ‘Serial high-rise litterbug’ — Poop bags allegedly thrown to the ground in Fernvale