NEA has stepped up enforcement, with private firm hired to patrol public areas
Jessica Lim & Tessa Wong, Straits Times 31 Dec 07;
THE number of litterbugs caught this year has hit a record.
Between January and last month, 19,252 were caught, a huge jump from the 6,002 culprits booked in the same period last year.
The leap in the number of offenders points to an ugly truth: The decades of anti-littering campaigns and stiffer fines have not rid Singaporeans of this uncivilised habit.
But the National Environment Agency (NEA) has a warning for those who blithely drop their trash wherever they please: You are more likely to be caught nowadays because a private company has been hired to step up enforcement.
And here is something else that might give potential offenders reason for pause: Members of the anti-litter force are in plain clothes, so you can never be sure no one is watching.
Officers from security management company Aetos, who have been patrolling public areas, have been behind the jump in the number of litterbugs caught.
The NEA decided it was time to step up enforcement after seeing no satisfactory improvement to the problem, its spokesman said.
A study done in April identified bus terminals, hawker centres, neighbourhood centres and coffee shops as the filthiest places.
The most common items cleaners pick up in these high-
traffic areas include cigarette butts, tissue paper and sweet wrappers.
Mr Howard Shaw, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, puts the continuing problem down to a dynamic population and changing lifestyles.
He said: 'There are newer generations of Singaporeans, and there has been a lot of immigration into the country. There are also more people hanging out in public malls, atriums and out in the open.'
And although rubbish bins dot the landscape, people still litter, and Mr Shaw thinks this is because it is just plain convenient to do so.
Cleaning up after litterbugs is costly. The NEA spent $34 million this year just cleaning up roads and pavements; the Jurong Town Council's annual clean-up bill comes to $4 million.
A Straits Times poll of 110 people last year found that most did not feel the need to pick up after themselves.
Nearly one in five, or 21, said it was 'too inconvenient' to dispose of their litter properly, or that they were 'too lazy' to bother.
Another 19 expected someone else to pick up after them; others griped that there were not enough rubbish bins.
Such lackadaisical attitudes, combined with the number of litterbugs caught this year, underscore what Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor said this year: Singapore's reputation for cleanliness is down to an army of cleaners and maids, not good habits among the population.
In the past two months, this newspaper has run five letters from readers about the littering problem and calling for stricter enforcement.
In a straw poll last week, 15 self-confessed litterbugs were asked whether a fine starting at $200 would be enough to deter them. Ten said yes as 'giving away money hurts'.
But junior college student Timothy Chan, 17, is nonchalant. He said: 'I am not afraid of being caught as I have never seen any officers patrolling at all.'
He admitted that he is careless 'once in a while' and does not pick up the tissue paper he drops.
Mr Shaw said offenders often feel they can get away with it, especially with small items such as cigarette butts.
'They know it is illegal, but they also think nobody is going to see what they do, so there definitely is a correlation between increasing enforcement and reducing litter.'
Litter bugs the island
Straits Times 31 Dec 07;
MORE than 19,000 people have been caught littering this year - the highest in recent memory.
But the threat of fines and corrective work orders has yet to work, going by a Straits Times check and Stomp contributions.
Whether in housing estates, public parks or even right smack in the middle of town, litter is conspicious.
But apart from being antisocial, mounds of discarded items can be a hazard. Just earlier this month, a fire broke out in a Dover Road housing block after trash left on the third floor lift landing ignited.
There have been a welter of complaints on The Straits Times' interactive portal as well as letters to the Forum on the issue.
And on the eve of some of the biggest street parties of the year, environmentalist group ECO Singapore has this plea, from its head Wilson Ang: 'I know it's a celebration, but I hope you will throw your rubbish into a bin and not wherever you like.'
