Block 211, Boon Lay Place: 'Dirty and so disgusting'

SINGAPORE - Padlocks, tins of glue, mirrors and a knife. These are just some of the killer litter at Block 211, Boon Lay Place, in recent times. Not to mention disgusting ones like used sanitary pads, tissue paper soiled with faeces and waste food.

Madam Teo, 72, a retiree, has had enough. She has complained to the town council (TC), the National Environment Agency (NEA) and even a minister, without much effect, she said.

She said she has been putting up with the litter for the past five years since she moved into her ground floor unit.

Unofficial Cleaner

And the irony is some of the litter usually falls at the back door of her flat, just outside the rubbish chute. Madam Teo said: "I've become one of the unofficial cleaners of the block. I'm practically cleaning the area behind my house every few hours.

"Just this morning, someone threw rice down again."

Madam Teo said she approached NEA last month with her complaint, but hasn't seen any improvements so far.

"They might be doing whatever paperwork they need to do on their side, but I don't see anything being done right now," she said.

Her frustration led her to approach Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC (Boon Lay) and Acting Minister of Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, who was visiting her area a few weeks ago.

She said she has to deal with the litter by taking precautions such as looking up more often when she is working in her garden.

She has stopped hanging her laundry outside because sometimes falling cigarette butts burn holes in her clothes.

Another ground-floor resident, a housewife who wanted to be known only as Madam Rozianah, 31, said that because of the litter, her three children, aged four to 10, cannot play in the open area behind her flat.

"The litter started getting really bad last year. Last week, someone threw a mirror down," she said.

Last month, she and five other neighbours approached the West Coast Town Council (WCTC) to complain, but the problem persists. She tried to install a tentage to protect her family, but the TC told her to take it down.

'I Want To Leave'

Ms Loo, 57, a resident, told Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao: "I really want to move. I want to leave the dirtiest housing block in Singapore."

WCTC told Wanbao that it has sent cleaners to the block.

It will also be sending out an advisory to residents persuading them not to throw killer litter.

The offence carries a jail term of up to one year, a maximum fine of $5,000, or both.

This article was published on April 3 in The New Paper.

Get The New Paper for more stories.