Litter can attract pests such as rats, cockroaches and birds, which has the potential to be serious health hazards. PHOTO: Unsplash

People litter when they think no one else is watching. They also think a little piece of litter is harmless. But these ‘litter’ secrets have big consequences.

Litter can attract pests such as rats, cockroaches and birds, which has the potential to be serious health hazards. If food scraps are left lying around on the ground, they will rot, and germs and viruses will grow on them. These dangerous pathogens will be passed on to the pests that come into the contact with the litter. Anything these pests touch thereafter is likely to get some of the germs. Anyone who come into contact with surfaces and food that have been contaminated could then fall sick or get food poisoning.

Trash such as food and drink containers or any item that can retain even a little bit of water allows mosquitoes to breed and spread dengue. The mosquitoes breed well in stagnant water. Hence, it is important to discard any unwanted materials properly to prevent them from becoming unintentional mosquito breeding habitats.

In support of SG Clean, the national campaign to encourage everyone to adopt good personal hygiene and improve public cleanliness, the Public Hygiene Council will be launching an anti-littering campaign next month. The campaign aims to raise the awareness of the negative health consequences of littering and demonstrate that litter is more harmful than people assume. Through this campaign, we want to communicate a strong and convincing reason why people should not litter and nudge everyone to take greater personal responsibility for the cleanliness of our public spaces.

Keeping Singapore clean is an integral part of our lives. It requires a collective effort from all of us to not to litter and to advise others to do the same.