GEORGE TOWN: For the sake of convenience, some “home alone” elderly people with mobility problems just drop their bags of waste from the balconies of high-rise buildings.
Such incidents still happen at the Rifle Range flats in Ayer Itam, the oldest public housing scheme in Penang.
Former constituency officer Daniel Tan, who used to look into the “killer litter” issue in the area, said there were senior citizens with mobility problems who needed help bringing their trash down.
“These are elderly people who live alone or with elderly companions, and some are wheelchair bound.
“With no one to ask for help, they would just resort to throwing rubbish off the balconies,” said Tan, who served the constituency from July 2021 to December last year.
In some cases, Tan said the culprits were drunk and would throw rubbish late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
Among the items that commonly “rained down” from the top were soiled diapers, glass bottles and domestic waste, he said.
With a population of 10,000, of whom 20% fell under the senior citizen category, Tan said they were not successful in creating awareness of the dangers of the problem.
“We did our best, but many of them still have this ‘tidak apa’ attitude.
“However, the number of cases has reduced and there are now contracted cleaners who clean up the place several times a day,” he said.
The nine blocks of flats, comprising 3,744 units, were built in 1968.
At the People’s Housing Project (PPR) in River Road, items such as curry, rice, soiled diapers and even cigarette butts were commonly thrown out of corridors and windows.
The flat’s Village Community Management Council secretary, Norjan KG Ibrahim, said it has been an ongoing problem with park vehicles being struck by rubbish.
“Soiled diapers have fallen on my car before while others have had their cars hit by glass bottles, vases and potted plants,” she said.
Norjan said they had installed closed-circuit television cameras and had been warning residents that action would be taken if they were caught throwing items.
She added that it was difficult to stop the residents despite regular checks.
“We hope the public will be more thoughtful as their act can hurt people and damage property,” she said.
Flying objects are a normal occurrence at the River Road PPR flats. In 2010, a taxi driver was killed after a big stone said to have been thrown from one of the units landed on his head.
At a block of flats in Macallum Street Ghaut, George Town, a hard object once crashed through the awning on the ground floor.
Block 354 Management committee secretary Lee Thuan Chye said it was lucky that nobody was injured in the incident.
He claimed that their efforts to raise awareness about killer litter had been futile.
