Elderly Cardboard Collectors In S’pore Only Earn $0.04 per KG; Figure Upsets Netizens

It’s not a surprising sight in a seemingly perfect country like Singapore. As with every nation, we have our flaws.

According to Singstat, Singapore’s ageing population has only catapulted by a shocking 6.4% between the years of 2009 and 2019.

Augmenting the situation at hand is the rising number of elderly who scour for odd jobs just to make a living in ever-evolving Singapore.

We are all familiar with senior citizens who collect cardboard for profit.

On a Facebook post made by the community group, Happy People Helping People Community (HPHPC), it was revealed that the price of cardboard boxes have dropped to a meagre $0.04 per kilogram.

A Drop of 6 Cents Per Kilogram of Cardboard

On the pictures uploaded by the community group, three elderly men are seen comparing the receipts that they have been giving after depositing their day’s worth of hard work.

While one earned $10.10 for 85kg of cardboard, another one earned $0.28 for 7kg.

According to a 2015 article from Yahoo News, cardboard collectors in Singapore used to earn $0.10 for a kilogram’s worth of cardboard deposit. That a drop of $0.06 in a span of just four years.

To make matters worse, the pictured recycling company, Tay Paper Recycling Pte Ltd, had rounded down the collectors’ earnings from $0.28 to $0.25.

An Angry Awakening for Locals

Pained and distraught by the shocking figures, Singaporeans gave the issue a piece of their mind.

Since being put up on 3 November, the post has received over 200 shares and has earned 261 reactions from angered netizens.

Others proposed alternatives means of living for the affected group of elderly.

While many advised the elderly to shift to other recycling companies who bought cardboards at higher rates, many also spoke about the brand new smart vending machines.

The following just comes to show how fortunate the majority of us are to be living life without such financial difficulties and constraints.

Moving forward, we ought to come up with more ways to help the elderly in need.

Remember, littlest of efforts can make a difference!