Stiffer penalties and more visible punishments for litterbugs

[Yukimura Sanada]

Stiffer penalties and more visible punishments for litterbugs
By Jeremy Koh | Posted: 06 June 2010 1444 hrs
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SINGAPORE : Singapore may be clean and green. But its streets are not free of litter. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of offenders increased more than ten-fold - to over 41,000, in part due to increased enforcement.

Seven in ten of those caught are locals. Tougher penalties, like stiffer fines and greater public shaming, are being introduced to keep offenders at bay.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is also stepping up public engagement efforts, while making it easier for people to bin their trash. This year's anti-littering campaign is based on the findings of a new survey, and its key objective is to fight littering, by tackling social habits.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said: "The study shows that some people see occasional littering as alright. The message we want to tell them is, there's no such thing as occasional littering. A litter is litter, whether it's at your home, at your park, in the drain, it will affect all of us."

About 48 per cent of people surveyed also quoted "difficulty in locating bins" as the main reason for littering. Also, many litterbugs think they can get away. A majority feel that Corrective Work Order (CWO) is effective. That is why NEA has increased fines for first-time offenders - from $200 to $300.

Those on CWO will have to sweep town centres, so that the punishment is more visible. Litter bins will be placed in areas where there's a greater need, while smoking areas will have bins with ash trays. NEA also wants to ensure zero tolerance of litter.

Andrew Tan, CEO, National Environment Agency, said: "I cannot imagine how NEA on its part can be deploying double the number of people, triple the number of people, quadruple the number of people if the community itself does not now step in to say we do want to take action against litterbugs."

Besides training more volunteers to be Litter-Free Ambassadors, it's also launching an anti-littering publicity campaign. The aim is to reduce litter in public places by 20 per cent and cut the number of litterbugs - from four in ten of the population - to three in ten by 2015. - CNA/jy

 

[wahlaneh]

wahlaneh...
u tried to throw cigarette butt into bin but it missed and dropped on the ground considered littering also meh?
then u tried to throw sweet wrappers but wind blow them away also our fault meh?

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

Littering: A fine mess
Stiffer penalties, more enforcement to curb unsightly problem

by Ong Dai Lin
Updated 11:00 AM Jun 07, 2010

SINGAPORE - The next time you litter or throw a cigarette butt, you will be twice as likely to be spotted by an enforcement officer and will face a tougher Corrective Work Order (CWO) regime.

From today, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will increase uniformed patrols at littering hotspots such as bus-stops from one day to two days a week.

A one-year study commissioned by NEA, carried out from April last year, on the behavioural and sociological factors behind littering found that uniformed enforcement is effective in encouraging people not to litter.

NEA said the findings also showed that the CWO is an effective deterrent and "many CWO offenders felt that it's very embarrassing, and they recounted the process of attending court as unpleasant".

So NEA will now conduct more CWOs at badly-littered hotspots, such as the barbecue pits at East Coast Park. It will also make CWOs more visible by holding them in public areas with heavy human traffic such as neighbourhood centres and bus interchanges.

The month the study began, NEA increased the fine for first-time offenders who failed to properly dispose of small items - such as cigarette butts, sweet wrappers and parking coupon tabs - from $200 to $300. Besides serving a CWO, repeat offenders can be hit with fines of up to $5,000.

NEA will now increase penalties for first-time offenders if necessary. It is also working with the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Public Utilities Board (PUB) for them to follow the same penalty regime.

PUB imposes a $200 composite fine for first offenders, while repeat offenders will be hauled to court; NParks' penalty is a $300 fine for first or subsequent offences.

At the launch of the new anti-littering campaign yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said: "Strict enforcement will send a clear message to those who persist in littering - that littering isn't acceptable."

To give would-be litterbugs fewer excuses, NEA will increase the number and size of bins at areas with heavy human traffic as well as improve bin design to make it easier for smokers to dispose of their butts.

For instance, it will place both wall-mounted and freestanding canisters in Clarke Quay, Plaza Singapura and Raffles City as a pilot project.

"So on our part, we continue to make it convenient for people to bin their litter. But ... it's a social habit as to whether or not you make a conscious effort to try and gather whatever litter you have and find the nearest bin," said Dr Yaccob.

To increase public education, NEA has also introduced the Litter-Free Ambassador programme, in which students, youth and grassroots leaders educate the public through house-to-house visits and community events.

As he emphasised the importance of a clean city, Dr Yaacob shared how a man threw a cigarette pack wrapper out of a car, in front of him.

"He may think it's a small (piece of) plastic, but that plastic will fly, go into the drain, accumulate with other litter; it'll clog up our drains - then you get dengue fever," he said.

There is thus the need to "task people to begin to think of the consequences of their actions".

Sociologist Paulin Straughan, who completed a survey for NEA's study, feels that the new measures will be effective in the short run.

The next step is whether active citizenry will work.

"If it works, we'll have evolved as a society where people care about the environment. And NEA will just need to sustain their efforts," she told MediaCorp.

Nurse Zhuo Shuling, 25, said: "Most people know you aren't supposed to litter only because you'll be fined. It's not good to use fines to control the littering problem."

As such, 26-year-old copywriter Dunstan Lee suggested reinforcing the merits of living in a clean country.


What NEA will do

- Sustain stepped-up enforcement operations: 380 man-hours per day this year compared to 72 in 2006

- Have more visible Corrective Work Orders

- Work with town councils and shopping malls on positioning and design of bins. There will be larger-sized bins where foreign workers congregate

Higher number of littering offenders* due to stepped-up enforcement

- 2009: 41,392

- 2008: 33,164

- 2007: 21,269

- 2006: 7,027

- 2005: 3,819

Offenders caught in Q1 this year:

- 7,956 (vs 10,089 in Q1, 2009)

By 2015, NEA aims to:

- Reduce the amount of litter in hotspots and general public places by 20 per cent

- Reduce the number of people who may still litter from 4 in 10 to 3 in 10

* More than 90 per cent threw cigarette butts

------------------------------------------------

talkback
1 - 3 of 23 responses to "Littering: A fine mess"

John Potus
Updated 10:07 PM June 07, 2010


" More than 90 per cent threw cigarette butts"


Simple, stop selling cigarettes. Population will be a lot healthier and less littering.

But wait, they will lose a very good source of revenue from cigarette tax.

This way collect revenue from taxes and fines.

Report Abuse
​

 

[Kwame]

Shouldn't law enforcers be concentrating in cracking down on parang-wielding FTs than to crack down on small-time littterbugs?

 

[Devil Within]

Litterbugs? There are loads of them in litter India and some open space especially during weekends. You can't miss them. They sit on the grass like having picnic but leave their empty beer bottles and newspapers behind when they finished.

 

[manokie]

They should fine the litterfugs $1,000 and one year extra NS obligation

Then use the money to buy more Morgan Stanley stock

 

[Cestbon]

They should fine the litterfugs $1,000 and one year extra NS obligation

Then use the money to buy more Morgan Stanley stock

Too heavy.
Something like like this.
1st time $300
2nd time $500 with 3 day CWO
3rd time $1k with 2 week CWO in CBD area like that can cut down FT sweeping street.

 

[SIFU]

NEA should fine singpost for sending junk mails into people's mailbox.

fuck u NEA:oIo:

 

[Cao Pi]

Five people have each been caught four times and served three CWOs


Jun 10, 2010

Singapore's worst litterbugs

Five people have each been caught four times and served three CWOs

1. MALE SMOKER
2. MALE SMOKER
3. MALE SMOKER
4. MALE SMOKER
5. WOMAN WHO THREW URINE OUT OF WINDOW

<!-- by line --> By Amresh Gunasingham

FOUR male smokers in their 20s and a woman in her 50s - who thrice threw urine out of her window - are Singapore's worst litterbugs, according to National Environment Agency (NEA) statistics provided to The Straits Times. Each was caught on four separate occasions and did the most corrective work orders (CWOs) for littering, based on data collated over the past four years. All five - including the urine thrower, whose offence is an anomaly, says NEA - served three CWO sentences each. This means each of them served between eight and 17 hours in total for their offences.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
[email protected]

 

[Cao Pi]

Jun 10, 2010
Start them young on no-littering habit

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> I REFER to Monday's report, 'Tougher now for litterbugs to escape'. While I agree stiffer penalties and stepped-up enforcement action will help curb the mess caused by litterbugs in the short term, it will not eliminate the problem. As enforcement officers cannot be everywhere all the time, Singapore can be clean and litter-free only if the people are educated to be responsible owners and users of common space. If they do not treat public places as such, no amount of enforcement and penalties can bring about the desired results.

In Japan, I noticed teenagers did not throw litter into drains or onto flower beds. They kept their litter in their pockets or bags. They would then empty them into litter bins they chanced upon as they moved on with their activities. It was only then that I realised having a litter bin at every corner in Singapore was a luxury. Yet, we often hear and read about the dearth of litter bins.

Since the authorities are going to spend millions in the coming years to solve the litter problem, it is not too late to send some of our teachers to Japan to learn how their education system imparts the value of caring for public places to their students. Good habits have to start from young.

Soh Ah Yuen
<!-- story content : end -->

 

[Cao Pi]

Latest comments

<table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table class="Post" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">The only way to teach anti-literring is for NEA to increase enforcement and fines. If a parent is fined, he will be embarrassed and teach his children not to litter. If an adult is fined or does CWO, his friends will think twice before littering. If a student is caught littering, parent and school should be informed for them to discipline the child. Do selective publicity for offenders.

</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">Posted by: hubhubhub at Thu Jun 10 09:39:56 SGT 2010

</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table class="AlternatePost" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">So what do you expect? Letter of appreciation from the Environment Ministry?

</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">Posted by: kokobird at Thu Jun 10 09:15:28 SGT 2010

</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table class="Post" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">We must inculcate good social habits in our citizens from young, esp now that we have more people from foreign lands, with varied cultures.Provision of more bins is not solving litter problem, only perpetuates it. In Japan, as in Taiwan, there are few bins in public places, yet little littering. Folks there keep their stuffs till they reach a place with bins or their destinations to dispose them.
</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">
Posted by: worldwit at Thu Jun 10 09:03:43 SGT 2010

</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table class="AlternatePost" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">I doubt Ms Lee's suggestion will work.

The anti-litter campaign here is more than 30 years old.

It was effective in the earlier years.

Singapore was getting cleaner.. until recent years.

What could have led to the reversal ??

It will make a good case study for an academic.

</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">Posted by: SammiVellu at Thu Jun 10 08:38:02 SGT 2010

</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left"><table class="Post" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">Except that the same group people who have been overseeing how or where our society should be headed towards over the past five decades weren’t able to see. Such is the result we see today.

</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" align="left">Posted by: boixosnois at Thu Jun 10 07:15:32 SGT 2010
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