COMPLAINT | Hundreds of cigarette butts littering in HDB common space

Singapore — After seeing hundreds of cigarette butts lying around in a common area at the HDB block she resided in, a member of the public took to Facebook to ask others to see if anything could be done about the situation.

The netizen posted about the litter in a Facebook group known as “Complaint Singapore“.

According to her caption, she had been sending out emails regarding the litter at her Housing Board block in Compassvale Lane since Feb 2021 and had already brought up the matter to Sengkang Town Council as well as the National Environment Agency (NEA).

She also suggested that a sign prohibiting careless discarding of cigarette butts in order to stop her neighbours from littering again.

However, there had been no action up until the time she put up the post since Feb 2021. She expressed that she did not know what to do in order to stop the issue from continuing.

In her post, she also uploaded several photographs.

Two of them captured the common space the netizen was speaking about. Hundreds of cigarette butts could be seen lying on the ground along with a discarded drink packet.

Many netizens expressed their shock and disdain at the sheer number of cigarette butts in the picture.  

The netizen added an update to her post, saying that all the litter had been cleared up just a few hours after sharing the issue in the Facebook group. She thanked those who had helped to circulate the post.

While she was thankful that action to clean up the area was taken immediately, she expressed that she was still waiting for signs and notices to be put up to remind residents to be considerate and to dispose of their litter properly.

She also shared several screenshots of her email conversations between her and NEA, as well as with Sengkang Town Council. The emails from NEA promised that they were looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, the email that Sengkang Town Council sent her referenced the email she had sent them back in Feb and notified her that they had already sent their conservancy contractor to clean up the area.

Town Council also stated that it will give out advisory notes to those living in the block to ask them to stop discarding their litter so carelessly again.

The email also mentioned that the Town Council will reach out to NEA to further investigate the high-rise littering and smoking at non-designated area issues at the netizen’s block, before urging her to contact them for further clarification if needed.

You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG