Individuals

What can we as individuals do to help reduce the littering problem in Singapore?

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Educate and Be Aware

First step to reduce the problem of littering is to understand the seriousness of littering. A small behaviour can seem insignificant but the consequences of it is huge. Understanding the impacts of littering allows an individual to be more aware of the implications when it comes to engaging in the behaviour. The thought process of the implications of littering is a small step towards the change in attitudes among individuals.

Sharing the information of littering to family members and friends can help to raise awareness of the implications of littering. The spreading of information ensures that everyone is aware of the problem of littering and it serves as a start of an individual’s change.

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Changing One’s Perspective

For an individual to contribute to the reduction of littering problem, it is important to slightly alter our perspective on littering and the responsibility that comes with it. We have to be responsible of the trash that we carry and not push our responsibilities to the cleaners as it is impossible for them to clean after so many people.
Furthermore, we can help reduce the burden of cleaners and make the area cleaner by picking up litter that we see on the floor such as plastics, papers or boxes even though it is not generated by us.

A good way of perceiving responsibility is the desire to be in a clean residential environment. You do not want to live in an area filled with litter of all sorts and pests that roam around freely. I am sure that no one wants to live in an area like that so as a start, we can maintain the cleanliness of our residential area. Stop the littering behaviour to prevent the creation of breeding grounds for pests and make your area one that is pleasant to live in.

Especially for high-rise litterbugs, think about how you do not want litter to be thrown at you as you walk under the HDB flats. So, do not do the same to innocent passer-by. Think about how high-rise littering is not worth it once you are caught doing it or when you caused harm to someone else.

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Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

The 3 Rs that are taught to us since young is one important lesson that we have to start applying in our daily lives. The best way to minimize littering problem is to reduce the amount of waste generated. Reduce the purchase of plastic bottles, plastic bags and even receipts when you do not need them necessarily. Accumulation of these unnecessary items cause us to generate more waste and thus increasing the probability of littering.

We can start our change small by rejecting plastic bags and use our own environmentally-friendly grocery bags. Stop buying plastic bottles from stores and bring your own bottles around. All these tiny actions can reduce the littering in Singapore as we will not throw our own bags or bottles on the ground.

For people who smoke, bring your own metal tin such as those small chocolate boxes where it can serve as a temporary cigarette butt disposal for smokers who are lazy to find bins to throw cigarette butts away.

Start the habit of recycling items that are recyclable instead of throwing everything in the general waste bin or on the ground. We can change our habit by making small changes everyday and can be done so by recycling newspapers or plastic bottles that we have at home for a start.

Here is a photo taken from the Singapore Zoo which illustrate what are some things we can do as individuals that can help to reduce waste and to conserve the environment at the same time.