Many young male smokers have a dirty habit – throwing things like cigarette butts out of the window. In fact, they make up the biggest group of high-rise litterbugs. Seven in 10 littering offenders aged between 21 and 30 caught on surveillance cameras deployed by NEA in the past seven years were male. The three most common items thrown out of windows were cigarette butts, tissue paper and food waste. There were also occasional cases of people throwing water, sanitary pads and urine. Last year, NEA deployed cameras at more than 1,000 areas with reports of persistent high-rise littering and took enforcement action against offenders in more than 1,200 cases. In the past five years, NEA received between 2,500 and 2,800 cases of feedback on high-rise littering annually. Currently, between 100 and 120 cameras are deployed each month. They have proven effective as generally about 35 per cent of HDB blocks with persistent littering would not feature on the list of problem blocks the following year. Since 2013, 152 children under 12 years old have been caught throwing things out of the window.... Continue Reading