A 38-year-old Singaporean man caught 34 times for continuously throwing cigarette butts out his apartment window was today fined nearly 20,000 Singapore dollars, said to be the highest fine for high-rise littering in the country.
The man who was not identified was charged with high-rise littering and fined 19,800 Singapore dollars (USD 14,776) and five hours of corrective work.
It is believed to be the highest fine till date for the high-rise littering in Singapore, the National Environment Agency said in a statement.
"We received five instances of feedback on high- rise littering at a block between June 2013 and June 2014. The littering persisted despite repeated educational rounds by the town council and stake-outs by officers from the agency," it said.
A surveillance camera was also deployed in November 2013 and March 2014, which revealed 34 acts of butt-throwing and littering by the man resulting in his being slapped with a hefty fine.
"We received 2,500 instances of high-rise littering in 2014, deployed cameras at close to 600 locations and took 206 enforcement actions against people," it said.
Singapore is bent on maintaining its reputation of being impeccably clean, with an active campaign against littering and stringent enforcement in place.
First time offenders who throw small items like cigarette butts or candy wrappers are fined USD 300. Those who throw out bigger items like drink cans or bottles are considered defiant and are required to appear before the court.
