HDB cleaner uncle discloses Singaporeans' common littering habits

What's the most common type of litter a cleaner at Singapore's HDB flats faces each day?

If you guessed tissues, you are wrong.

In a video for Keep SG Clean released by the Public Hygiene Council on Tuesday (Aug 4) HDB cleaner Andari B Shor, 65, shared some of the most common litter he encounters each day and the difficulties he faces on the job.

He shared: "Cigarette butts every day have," this despite the smoking ban in common corridors, stairwells, staircase landings and void decks of a HDB building.

Andari also regularly comes across packets of food thrown at the lift landing. "Always put at the lift lobby, not hygiene lah," he said with a grimace.

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His day starts at 7am, starting with sweeping the lift landings and in the lifts. After that, he mops the floors.

Other inconsiderate behaviour he's encountered is bulky items discarded outside the lifts.

"Sometimes when people move house they throw anyhow inside, outside the lift. The heavy things. So I one person clear the whole block," said Andari.

Encouraging residents to be considerate, he added: "I old already, so I hope you all don't litter so much, uncle life will be easier. [sic]"

Andari noted that "the new generation (are) more educated, they don't want to sweep the HDB block. "We also must teach Singaporeans to be clean, don't litter."

But it's evident that he takes pride in his job.

"When people say 'Uncle, sweep very clean leh', I also say xie xie ni (thank you in Mandarin)," he laughed.

On the social media post, several commenters also expressed appreciation for Andari.

So the next time you consider dropping your trash any old how at your convenience, perhaps think again?

candicecai@asiaone.com