Singapore, 11 May 2021 – On 7 May 2021, a 49-year-old Singaporean man was convicted by the State Courts and fined $3,600, and sentenced to perform 12 hours of corrective work, for throwing a cigarette butt in a public place. If he fails to pay the court fine, he would have to serve 10 days’ imprisonment in default. This is his eighth conviction for littering.

2          On 9 July 2020, NEA enforcement officers witnessed Mr Peh Choe Kong throwing a cigarette butt on the ground outside Tampines 1 Mall.

3          During the trial, Mr Peh claimed that he had thrown the cigarette butt into a makeshift container placed on the ground and not on to the ground as witnessed by the enforcement officers.

4          At the end of the trial, the Court accepted the prosecution’s case and convicted the accused. In arriving at the sentence, the Court took into consideration that Mr Peh had seven previous convictions for similar offences from 2008 to 2018.

Enforcement Efforts for Littering in 2020

5          Singapore has a strict anti-littering enforcement regime. In 2020, NEA issued about 19,000 tickets for littering offences. Under the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA), any individual who commits a littering offence is liable on conviction to a court fine of up to $2,000 for a first conviction, $4,000 for a second conviction and $10,000 for the third and subsequent convictions. The court may also impose a Corrective Work Order (CWO), requiring offenders to clean public areas for up to 12 hours.

6          NEA seek the support of the community to foster collective responsibility for our environment and cultivate positive social norms.

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