Suay AMK resident complains about low SES neighbour who keeps throwing soiled kotex pads on his aircon unit

[Rogue Trader]

Ang Mo Kio resident sees red after soiled sanitary pads land on his air-con condenser​

An Ang Mo Kio resident complained of used sanitary pads landing on the air-con condenser outside his window.
PHOTO: Shin Min Daily News

PUBLISHED ON December 02, 2024 5:50 PM
ByDana Leong

Soiled sanitary napkins littering the air-con condenser unit of a flat in Ang Mo Kio is making a resident see red.

The resident, surnamed Zheng, said he has faced this issue for the past six months.

"Before March, it only happened occasionally. Now, it happens every month," the 61-year-old told Shin Min Daily News.


Besides landing on the air-con condenser units of the several flats at Block 623 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9, the soiled sanitary napkins would also end up on the plants hanging outside his unit, Zheng added.

"I can see them as soon as I open the window," he said.

Nowadays, the resident doesn't dare to open his windows for fear of the sanitary napkins landing in his room.

Upset by the situation, Zheng made several reports to his town council and the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Believing that a neighbour is throwing the items out of their bathroom window, he pointed the finger at an elderly woman living in one of the units above him.

When visited by a Shin Min reporter, the resident surnamed Liu denied the claims, saying that her family members dispose of sanitary napkins in plastic bags.

She added that she never saw sanitary pads on her own air-con condenser unit.

In response to AsiaOne's queries, a spokesperson from the Ang Mo Kio Town Council said that they are aware of the high-rise littering situation and have promptly cleared the affected areas.

"To address this issue proactively, we have displayed advisories at the block to remind residents to refrain from high-rise littering," added the spokesperson.

The town council is also working closely with NEA to monitor the situation.

High-rise littering​

Over the years, several housing estates have been plagued by such litterbugs.

In 2017, a 28-year-old woman was fined $1,600 and sentenced to three hours of Corrective Work Order for throwing soiled sanitary pads out the window of her home in Toa Payoh.

Despite outreach initiatives by the town council and grassroots organisations, the woman continued to litter.

She was subsequently caught in the act by a surveillance camera deployed by NEA.

Two years later, the topic also sparked a lively exchange in Parliament among MPs as they spoke about a culprit who threw used sanitary pads for years in Yishun.

The House heard that NEA's repeated stakeouts did not manage to help nab the culprit.

Former MP Lee Bee Wah said: "If you had the ambition to catch the culprit, you will be able to catch (her). Otherwise, looks like this problem will disappear only when the litterbug (reaches) menopause."

Under the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA), a first-time offender of high-rise littering may face a fine of up to $2,000.

For each subsequent conviction, an offender may face fines of up to $4,000 and $10,000.

They may also be made to undergo a Corrective Work Order to clean public areas for up to 12 hours.

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[Rogue Trader]

PAP also cannot stop low class siaolang sinkie women from committing this kind of disgusting act.

Only a death penalty can scare coolie descendants into civility

Parliament: There’s no stopping Yishun’s sanitary pad litterbug, period​

PUBLISHED ON September 04, 2019 8:40 AM
By Vanessa Liu

SINGAPORE - The issue of high-rise littering stirred up a lively exchange in Parliament on Tuesday (Sept 3), with Ms Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon GRC) throwing light on a peculiar form of high-rise litter that has been a persistent issue in the past few years: soiled sanitary pads.

Ms Lee, who does monthly litter-picking with residents in her constituency, was among a handful of MPs who expressed concern about enforcement actions taken by the National Environment Agency against high-rise litterbugs.

She pointed out that deploying surveillance cameras for a short period of time hardly addresses the problem.

"There were several high-rise littering of sanitary pads for many years and, until today, it is still not solved. And why? Because NEA deploys CCTV (cameras) only for a few days. And the problem persists," she said.

"Actually, if you have...an ambition to catch the culprit, I'm sure we'll be able to catch (him or her)."

"Otherwise, (it) looks like this problem will disappear only when the litterbug (enters) menopause."

As MPs burst into laughter, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor assured the House that "resources are never unlimited", and that "surveillance cameras are deployed where it is possible and where it needs to be done".

She said the number of successful enforcement actions have increased about 120 times since 2011 to more than 1,200 last year, after cameras were deployed in 2012.

But they are "really not the panacea", she added.

"We cannot just depend on enforcement alone. It has to be coupled with community engagement and education."

Dr Khor cited a pilot programme launched last year in an Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood that was previously plagued with persistent high-rise littering and illegal pigeon feeding.

The number of cases plunged from 21 to nine in a six-month period following outreach efforts by various agencies and grassroots organisations, she said.

These included putting up new publicity materials and forming a community watch group to engage residents of the two blocks with litterbugs, she said.

Ms Lee also asked about the possibility of using DNA to nab offenders.

Dr Khor replied: "First of all, when the litter comes down onto the ground, it's likely that it's not the DNA of the culprit alone that will be there. So it'd be very difficult, at least as far as we know of the technology involved.

"I'm not referring specifically to sanitary pads. In general, there will be many other DNA involved."

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) cited a recent high-rise litter incident in which the police arrested the offender within 10 days after a wine bottle he had thrown from the seventh storey of a condominium caused the death of a 73-year-old man on the fifth floor.

In comparison, Dr Khor said it takes between 10 weeks and six months for most cases, from the time the report is made to NEA to the time of prosecution.

Mr Liang asked if NEA had the resources to increase the efficacy and urgency to deal with similar high-rise litter offences.

Dr Khor said that while prompt action is necessary, there is also a need to ensure "investigations are thorough and accurate so that we do not wrongfully prosecute a person".

She added that the agency handles about 26,000 reports of littering every year.

"With such a large volume of cases and the fact that resources are not unlimited, we will have to prioritise. So, we do prioritise based on the severity of the littering offence, the type of litter and so on to take action and investigate."

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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[Rogue Trader]

Parliament: There’s no stopping Yishun’s sanitary pad litterbug, period

And who is the clever ST editor who okayed this corny headline???