Smokers the butt of littering problem

TNP PHOTO: NURJANNAH ZULKIFLI

Public cleanliness has been a recurring topic on forum pages despite more than 40 years of anti-litter campaigns and tougher enforcement and fines.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) received 5,232 complaints about litterbugs last year, up from 4,449 in 2010.

In an NEA study two years ago, smokers were singled out as one of the key target groups responsible for littering.

The New Paper spent two days and a total of five hours observing smokers in areas identified by NEA as litter hotspots – places with high human traffic, such as Orchard Road, Housing Board town centres and bus interchanges – to find out if a simple act like stubbing out a cigarette at the nearest rubbish bin would prove too difficult.

We also talked to experts to find out what needs to be done to overcome the problem of public littering.