Sin eng-18 - kill of killer litter(form)

Name of the School: Raffles InstitutionAddress: 1 Raffles Institution Lane, Singapore 575954Group Leader: Lim Haw JiaStory Title: Kill off killer litterTel.: 65670906 Email: hawjia@gmail.com Mentor Teacher : Ms Stephanie Lee STUDENT INFORMATION 1) Name: Lim Haw Jia Age: 14 Grade: 8 (Secondary 2) 2) Name: Lee Yu Howe Age: 14 Grade: 8 (Secondary 2) 3) Name: Teo Xue Heng Age: 14 Grade: 8 (Secondary 2) 4) Name: Age: Grade: 5) Name: Age: Grade:

Kill Off Killer LitterFor many years, killer litter has been the cause of Under the education segment of our action week,deaths for many innocent Singaporeans. Reports of we plan to put up posters and set up exhibitions topeople throwing flower pots, fans, glass bottles and remind Singaporeans of the dire consequences ofwhatnot have been all over the news, resulting in killer litter and methods that they can use tounwanted injuries, ranging from cuts and bruises to prevent cases of killer litter from happening in theconcussion and severe bleeding. Toddlers, teenagers, future. This would deter them from killer litter andworking adults, grandparents, nobody in Singapore are equip them with preventive knowledge to combatsafe from killer litter. Also, plants and trees will be killer litter. Under the physical aspect, we proposedamaged; pathways will be stained, public areas such to create a ledge on HDB flats to cash and collectas playgrounds will be damaged and dirtied. Thus, we any killer litter that is thrown from the apartments.hope to eradicate this problem from our society and Under the deterrence section, we plan to petitionimprove the Singaporean community for a higher penalty for killer litter or conduct more frequent spot-checks. This would make Singaporeans think twice before committing such a dangerous act as killer litter. The number of warnings served onresidents by HDB and Town Councils for placing objectsin a dangerous manner are 4,650 per month in 2008. Inthe first eight months of 2009, there was a slightincrease to 4,900 warnings per month. This is anincrease of five percent over eight months. Refer to next few pages for details of our action week.

Details of action week:1. Mass exhibition to raise awareness for Design for Change As part of the 7-day action week program that we have to complete throughout the course ofour “Design for Change” journey, our overall teacher-in-charge had kindly booked our school’s mainatrium to hold a mass exhibition for all the “Design for Change” project groups. This mass exhibition wasconducted to increase awareness about “Design for Change” among the staff and students of RafflesInstitution. Hopefully with the buzz and excitement created from this exhibition, we sincerely hope thatthere would be more participants in the “Design for Change” project competition next year. This massexhibition took up 3 whole days of our action week and took a huge burden off of our shoulders. For this mass exhibition, we were required to create a poster1 to introduce our topic and ourresearch to the rest of the school. We had put in a lot of effort into creating the poster and were veryproud of the end-product. Not only was it informative, it was also aesthetically appealing and theinformation was systematically organized. As our base, we used a rectangular Styrofoam board withdimensions of approximately 45cm by 30cm. We then covered half of it with black colored paper andthe other half with red colored paper. Also, we bordered the edges with a silver duct tape for a polishedand trimmed effect. On the side with black colored paper, we included a brief introduction to “Designfor Change” and killer litter. We also included the dire consequences of killer litter, possible solutionsand relevant statistics on the black side. On the red side, we included research of our own, ranging fromour survey results to our survey analysis. This method of organization is not only systematic, but is alsopleasing to read for the audience. For aesthetic effect, we included many pictures and even had aninteresting cartoon advertisement about killer litter. Figure 10: Our poster on display during the mass exhibition1 Refer to Figure 10

List of information included in our poster:  Brief introduction to killer litter  Statistics about the rising trend of killer litter and its previous cases – By showing the audience this piece of information, we hope to enlighten them to the increasing trend of killer litter and illustrate how real this issue is. Hopefully, when they are able to relate to the severity of the issue, they would make a conscious effort to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude towards killer litter.  Consequences of killer litter – By educating the audience about the consequences of killer litter, we hope that they are able to empathize and relate to the victims of killer litter. This would then cause them to think twice before throwing killer litter, knowing very well that they may cause harm and even death to others.  Survey analysis and results – We hope that by showing our survey results, we can share our research with other students in our school. We also hope that the results would be a wake- up call to many in the audience. Certain results reflected very badly of Singaporeans and clearly showed our ignorance, ill manners and social irresponsibility. E.g. many Singaporeans have “a false perception” of killer litter.  Conclusion – We had concluded by reiterating the main points in the poster and by emphasizing the importance of curbing killer litter. As for work distribution, each one of us had to be present for at least one day of the exhibition.Thus, we split the three days among ourselves, each one of us being in charge of a particular day. Wehad to report to the main atrium after school for about an hour to tend to our “booths” and explain ourprojects to any interested passers-by. There were also short quizzes given out to the audience in orderto test their knowledge after exploring the exhibits. The results from the quizzes were great and hasshown that many passers-by did learn a lot about “Design for Change” and community service from ourposters. However, there were also many uninterested passers-by who simply ignored our exhibition atthe main atrium. Thus, we had to persuade and entice people to explore our exhibits.2. Putting up posters to raise awareness about killer litter In order to raise awareness about killer litter in Singapore, our group has designed an awareness poster to put in various HDB estates in Singapore and around our school. This poster serves to remind Singaporeans about the dangers of killer litter. As such, we added in a picture of a falling axe to illustrate how dangerous killer litter can be. At the high altitude that killer litter is thrown from, even a small pencil can gain enough momentum and force to physically injure someone.

STOP KILLER LITTER, SAVE LIVES… Figure 11: Our awareness poster design

As you can see, our poster was designed using Adobe Photoshop. The green glass bottles representvery common killer litters that are thrown down from high rise HDB apartments. These objectsunknowing turn into dangerous weapons, such as the axe, as it gains momentum from falling off a highaltitude. After seeing this representation of killer litter, we hope that the general public would bereminded of its severe consequences and deter from committing this heinous act. In order to put these posters up, we had to get permission from both the school and various towncouncils around Singapore. After getting the school’s approval, we put the posters up in “hotspots”where a lot of students and staff pass by. We put them up on the 26th of July and left them for about aday for people to read and interpret our posters. As for the posters around the different HDB estates,we put them up on the 27th of July and left them for one day so that people could read and interpret. Itwas something that we had never done before and thus, we were unsure of how to stick the posters onpillars and walls. Eventually, we decided that double-sided tape was the best option to use as it wasdurable, strong and convenient to use (as compared to glue). The poster was generally well-received and many of our classmates who saw it described as “acreative way to represent killer litter” and it “reminded” them of its “severe consequences”. Thus, wefeel that the poster was generally a success and that it was effective in achieving its intended purpose,to remind Singaporeans to deter from committing killer litter.3. Conducting exhibitions to create awareness about killer litter in Singapore. Although we could not get approval to conduct an exhibition in a community center, our teacher-mentor has managed to book the junior block atrium in our school for us to create a small booth toeducate our fellow schoolmates about killer litter. It was held on 5th August from 2.30pm – 5.00pm.However, the timing of our exhibition happened to clash with an Australian Math Competition that washeld in school and made compulsory to all students,which was held from 2.30pm – 4.00pm and 5.00pmto 6.00pm. Therefore, we had to take turns in tending thestalls. Haw Jia was in charge of the first shift (2.30pm– 4.00pm) and was also tasked with setting up thebooth. Yu Howe and Xue Heng was in charge of thesecond shift (4.00pm – 5.00pm) and had todismantle the booth afterwards. It was truly achallenge for Haw Jia to set the booth up himself butwe were all quite pleased with the end result. Figure 12: PP Hollow Plastic boards Our exhibition consisted of two large posterboards that were designed to educate our fellow schoolmates about killer litter. For the base of theseposters2, we used big plastic boards of about 100cm by 74cm. On these plastic boards, we included a2 Refer to figure 12

variety of information, ranging from the consequences of killer litter to our survey results and analysis.We also bordered the edges with colored duct tape for a more polished and trimmed effect. It was moreor less a more detailed and informative version of the poster that we did during the mass exhibition.The content of the poster3 included:  Introduction - to give the audience a brief outline of our project  Examples of killer litter – to educate the audience about what killer litter is and clear the “false perception” of killer litter that we have discovered during our research. By doing so, we hope that the audience would learn to deter from committing killer litter  Statistics and cases about killer litter – by showing the audience this piece of information, we hope to enlighten them to the increasing trend of killer litter and illustrate how real this issue is. Hopefully, when they are able to relate to the severity of the issue, they would make a conscious effort to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude towards killer litter.  Consequences of killer litter – by educating the audience about the consequences of killer litter, we hope that they are able to empathize and relate to the victims of killer litter. This would then cause them to think twice before throwing killer litter, knowing very well that they may cause harm and even death to others.  Solutions/proposed action plan – by showing them our solutions and proposed plan to stop killer litter, we hope to garner the support of the audience and convince them of our cause. When they are convinced, not only is it easier to influence them to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude towards killer litter, it would also be easier for us to obtain signatures for our petition.  Survey analysis and results – by showing our survey results, we can share our research with our audience. We also hope that the results would be a wake-up call to many in the audience. Certain results reflected very badly of Singaporeans and clearly showed our ignorance, ill manners and social irresponsibility. E.g. many Singaporeans have “a false perception” of killer litter.  Conclusion – to highlight and reiterate the focus of our project. It is also a final appeal to our audience to avoid throwing killer litter. Other than the two poster boards, we also brought a laptop to screen a timed PowerPointpresentation on killer litter. This is a more interactive alternative to the poster boards and may appealespecially to the younger generation who are more IT-savvy. These youngsters may find our posterboards a bore and the PowerPoint slides would definitely be better in educating them about killer litter.The information on our slides is pretty similar to that on the poster boards. However, it is definitelymore concise, vivid and contains more pictures, drawings and such.3 Refer to Annex 1 for exact details

The content of our PowerPoint presentation include:

Figure 13: Our small exhibition on killer litter in the junior block of our school Overall, the exhibition was very successful. Although the crowd on that day was small, our exhibitionstill attracted many passers-by to take a look. Furthermore, majority of them were impressed by thequality of our work, taking into consideration the fact that we were “still juniors in the school”. Oneteacher even said that our exhibition has “given him a new insight into killer litter” and has“encouraged” him to “deter from committing killer litter”. However, we are still disappointed by the fact that we could not hold a bigger-scale exhibition in aCommunity Centre. Upon seeing how smoothly this exhibition went, we could have made an even largerpositive impact on our Singaporean community if we had been given the chance to utilize the premisesof a Community Centre and be able to reach out to a larger spread of Singaporeans.4. Petitioning for HDB to step up its efforts to curb killer litter The last component of our 7-day action plan is to petition4 for the government to be more proactivein its campaign to stop killer litter. As we can see from our survey results, the government’s efforts tocurb killer litter have mostly gone unnoticed among the general public. This could be a reason why thenumber of killer litter cases has been increasing steadily over the years. Thus, we have come up with aproposal for HDB (Housing Development Board) to implement 3 effective solutions that will help todrastically reduce the trend of killer litter in Singapore. After all, with so many Singaporeans living in4 Refer to Annex 2 for full proposal

high-rise HDB flats, this issue could pose serious problem to the safety and health of many citizens. Theleast that the government could do is to ensure the wellbeing of its citizens. The three main solutions that we plan to propose are increasing the penalty for killer liter, conductfrequent spot checks around HDB estates and to install a protective ledge underneath windows to catchand collect any litter thrown from high-rise HDB apartments. Increase penalty for killer litter: The first solution that we propose is to increase the penalty for cases of killer litter. Currently, warning letters are first sent to offenders before any fine or punishment is imposed on them. However, damage could have already been done and thus, we feel that no warnings should be given and the offender should be fined immediately. Such stringent and unforgiving punishment would definitely deter people from throwing killer litter. Also, the current system of punishment for repeat offenders is a $1000 fine. We feel that this is insufficient and that the penalty for killer litter should also include doing time in prison. Considering the fact that killer litter endangers the lives and safety of others, it is as bad as drink-driving and thus, it is justifiable for the offenders to do time in prison. Perhaps it would not be for a long time, but the thought of spending time in prison would be a very strong deterrence and make people think twice before throwing killer litter. Conduct more frequent spot-checks in HDB estates: The second solution that we are proposing is to conduct frequent spot-checks around HDB estates to catch any potential killer litter. There are a few town councils who organize such spot- checks but, we feel that the frequency of these checks are not sufficient enough to deter people from committing this heinous act. Perhaps town councils could assign volunteers from HDB estates to perform weekly patrol duties around the HDB estates to spot for killer litter. The town council could also consider allowing the elderly to perform these duties. There are many active aging citizens in HDB estates and this could be a way to get them involved in their community. Through this, not only can they maintain an active lifestyle, they can also make new friends along the way, allowing them to spend their free time in a very positive way. Town councils could appoint a socially responsible resident as “litter guard”, who constantly looks out for potential killer litter. Knowing that someone is keeping an eye on them would deter those tempted to throw killer litter. Install protective ledge on HDB flats

The final solution that we are proposing is to install an over-hanging ledge on all HDB flats under the windows of the apartments. Although this plan is hard to implement, we feel that it is the most effective and direct solution to killer litter. With this ledge to trap and collect any falling objects, we can effectively protect residents from killer litter and drastically reduce the number of casualties from it. If it is feasible, we hope that the government would not hesitate to implement this as it is a sure way to stop more innocent lives from being taken by sociallyledge” Figure 14: Illustration of “protective irresponsible Singaporeans. As you can see from the diagram above, the ledge is effective in trapping and collecting any rubbishdisposed by residents living in high-rise HDB flats. It can also serve another purpose by providing shelterfor the void deck and blocking out any direct sunlight. This would help to keep the void decks cool too.

We feel that for our proposal to go through smoothly, a petition is needed as we have to garner thesupport of the general public. As this project directly concerns the general public, letting them knowabout our project will remind them about killer litter and its effects, as well as joining the cause to stopkiller litter. Earlier in our project, we have identified Jurong and Sengkang as killer litter hotspots andwent to shopping centers and Community Centres around that district to get signatures for our petition. Our proposal was very well received and we successfully obtained the 100 signatures that wetargeted. After reading through our proposal, many Singaporeans described our solutions as “practicaland feasible”. Others also said that it would be great if the government was able to implement thesolutions. We are very pleased with this feedback and sincerely hope that the government would takeour solutions into consideration and implement them. This would be a huge step towards eradicatingkiller litter from our Singaporean community. In conclusion, we felt that our “Design for Change” journey has been a truly unique andmeaningful experience. It has combines community service and research education, allowing you toserve the community while learning new research and project-related skills. It also allows you to developyour creativity and think out of the box while planning and designing our 7-day action week. Althoughwe met a few setbacks and obstacles, we feel that our project was still generally a success.

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