Man fined record $19,800 for throwing cigarette butts from home 34 times

SINGAPORE - A man has been fined $19,800 and sentenced to five hours of Corrective Work Order for committing 34 acts of high-rise littering.

This is the highest fine meted out to date for the offence, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a statement today.

The 38-year-old offender repeatedly threw cigarette butts out of his home at Block 224C Compassvale Walk between Mar 13 and 16, 2014.

The NEA received five instances of feedback on high-rise littering at the block between June 2013 and June 2014.

"Despite repeated educational rounds conducted by the Town Council and grassroots organisation, including stake-outs by NEA officers, the high-rise littering problem persisted," the NEA said.

It subsequently deployed a surveillance camera between Nov 14 and 18, 2013 and between Mar 13 and 18, 2014, which caught the offender in the act 34 times. He was found guilty and sentenced on Sep 19, 2014.

About 2,500 complaints of high-rise littering were sent to the NEA from January to December last year. In most cases, the situation improved following outreach and education efforts, the NEA said, adding that it has stepped up its enforcement efforts against high-rise littering.

Last year, it deployed cameras at nearly 600 locations with cases of persistent high-rise littering, and took 206 enforcement actions against offenders.

huizhen@sph.com.sg