IT SEEMS Singaporeans have got the recycling bug.
Many are making the effort to separate their recyclable trash from perishable rubbish.
Yet for every one who has got the message, just as many continue to drop their garbage outside the chute instead of throwing it in.
Like a scene from some strange planet, plastic bag after plastic bag of garbage dot the foot of chutes, like subjects bowing to stainless steel ruler royalty.
An after-dinner stroll along the corridors of many of the HDB flats with common rubbish chutes reveals the unwecolme sight – not to mention the smell of garbage wafting into the flats nearest to the chutes.
There is one thing to be said about leaving bags and bags around the chute, another about leaving bags and bags around the chute – untied!
‘Eau de leftovers’, the scent of used nappies and the aroma of decay would usually enter these homes like unwelcome dinnertime guests.
Student Stelle Tan, 16, whose Choa Chu Kang flat is diagonally across from a chute, told the Straits Times she loses her appetite each time the wind carries the smell into her dining room.
It’s the same for Mr Muhd Imran from Tampines, who said he was tormented by inconsiderate new neighbours leaving rubbish bags outside after 10 years of clean-air living.
His flat too, is the nearest to the rubbish chute along his level.
He even blogged about the incident out of frustration.
For many residents it’s a mystery.
Why do people, leave rubbish unattended along the corridor, without sparing a thought about cleanliness of the common area - or for the cleaner who has to face it in the morning.
It’s like the cleaner and the Town Council are on a treadmill.
Each morning they remove the often untied bags of rubbish and clean the corridors. But every day like clockwork, the plastic bags return – smell and all.
Recycling may be a lesson learned.
But the one lesson that’s still outstanding is consideration.
After all, if common areas resemble a landfill site and stink to high heaven then it’s time to remember your home is located there as well.