Just Inches Away!

I do not get it!

This is something that I cannot comprehend... the things that some people do without thinking a little bit more as to the consequence their deed is affecting others.

It is common practice by residents living in blocks of flat to bag their own rubbish, tie it securely and dump it into the rubbish chute that is available for common use on every floor.

It is quite understandable if big items like furniture are difficult to be thrown away, but it still is the responsibility of the owner to dispose off them properly. The means are given for each person to choose.

Either they bring it down to the designated bulky item disposal area or pay a mere S$5.00 fee by giving a call to the town council for the cleaners to collect it from their homes for disposal.

Recently, we have been plagued with garbage that is left at the rubbish chute area. Not thrown into the chute, but left by it almost every day! The elusive dumper is just inches away from pressing down the chute pedal to open and throwing his day's rubbish into the chute.

The mess it makes when the wind blows the rubbish off its opened bag, or topple it and spewing its contents across the lift landing! At times we can smell the stench of rotting food scraps when we open our door on weekends.

This simple routine of throwing rubbish into the chute seems just too complicated to figure out by a certain individual on our floor.

There are sometimes larger pieces of discarded items at the chute area, items that should be torn apart to smaller pieces that can then be placed into a garbage bag or just fit through the chute hole, but is left there irresponsibly, oblivious to keep the the common place clean and hygienic.

This kind of thing happens sometimes when a new neighbor comes to the block. They care less about disposing their rubbish responsibly. Sometimes, the owner of the house rents out to foreign students or workers, they may not know the proper way of disposing their rubbish.

And at times too, with the same ignorance to the culture here, newly employed foreign maids are the culprits. We know this because we saw and advised one some years back.

Most times, we just ignore the mess they make, hoping that in due time they will come to their senses and be civil about it... attuned to the way we do things here. But as times goes by, the situation does not seem to improve. We are beginning to can get agitated more each passing day with the mess this elusive dumper makes.

The last time this happened was by a new neighbor who had just moved in. The irony of it all was that the culprit worked as a nurse! There were receipts and hospital schedules baring her name we saw when the rubbish spewed all over the floor and blown onto the staircase.

Even the Bangladeshi cleaner was angry at the mess he had to clean up after almost every day. The cleaner asked Wifey one day while she waited for the lift whether she knew who did it.

I finally caught the elusive dumper red-handed one night when we came back from an outing and just so happen to see her dumping her rubbish.

The rubbish chute is near the lift landing, several metres away from our front door. So when the lady came and went off from the chute area without the sound of the self-retracting chute being opened and closed, I was most certain she was the one.

I quickly went over to the chute and discovered the same light yellow plastic bag she carried was left by the chute... by the chute! Not thrown into it when the bag can fit through it.

I took the rubbish bag and went straight to her home to confront her. She denied that the rubbish bag was hers but she knew we saw her with the bag while we were at our front door.

I told her I had witnessed her irresponsible act and would have to report her to the town council if this were to happen again. I left the rubbish bag at her front door asking her to throw it properly, responsibly. She did.

We had never spoken before, so after that incident we did not acknowledge each other whenever we passed one another at the corridor or even while in the lift together. The would be neighborly relationship turned sour before it even started.

Yet, I do not mind. The good thing is that the irresponsible act had stopped. I think good hygiene in our common areas is worth more than a passing "hello."

Now, it looks like I have to stake out again to catch the new elusive dumper...