Two HDB flat owners have been convicted in the State Courts for littering from their high-rise units under the presumption clause.

This clause came into effect on Jul. 1, 2023.

High-rise littering

On Jun. 11, 2024, a 63-year-old man was fined S$700 in court for presumably throwing an object out the toilet window from his unit at Bedok North Street 2.

Separately, a 42-year-old female was also fined S$700 on Jun. 25, 2024 for presumably throwing items such as food waste and unknown liquid out of the kitchen window from her unit at Ang Mo Kio Street 52.

A National Environment Agency (NEA) news release stated that these cases are the first two convictions for high-rise littering under the presumption clause.

In both cases, the acts of littering were captured by NEA surveillance cameras. These were installed in response to persistent reports of high-rise littering.

Both were first offenders of high-rise littering.

Presumption clause for littering from residential flats

If it is proven that littering acts have been committed from a residential flat, the registered owners or unit's tenants will be presumed guilty of the offence unless they can prove otherwise.

The presumption can be rebutted by the owner or tenant by proving that he/she was not present in the flat at the time of the offence, and hence, proving that he/she could not have been the offender.

Alternatively, he/she may provide the identity of a person reasonably believed to be the offender.

The presumption clause places "greater onus on registered owners and tenants of residential flats to prevent littering from their flats", NEA said.

Enforcement action taken

From 2021 to 2023, NEA investigated about 29,000 high-rise littering feedback instances annually.

Over the same period, NEA deployed an average of 2,500 cameras annually.

About 1,100 enforcement actions were conducted annually against persons caught for high-rise littering.

Top photo from NEA & via Wael Attia/ FB.