Collecting cardboards in Singapore is one of the toughest and lowest-paying work, especially for the senior citizens who keep this industry going.
And it’s excruciatingly painful to know that some of them earn as little as S$0.04 for a kilogram worth of used cardboard.
S$0.04 per kg of cardboard
On Nov. 5, community group Happy People Helping People Community (HPHPC) shared the following post on their Facebook page:
According to the post, a group of cardboard collectors were comparing their earnings for the day.
The price of cardboard boxes has allegedly dropped to just S$0.04 per kilogram.
In a 2015 Yahoo article, cardboard collectors used to apparently earn S$0.10 for a kilogram of cardboard boxes.
Rounded down
Photo from Happy People Helping People Community’s Facebook page
In a picture posted by HPHPC, a person who collected S$0.28 worth of cardboard was paid S$0.25 instead of a 2-cent round up of S$0.30.
Angry reactions
The post has since received over 250 reactions and more than 200 shares.
Some Singaporeans have expressed their surprise and anger over the issue:
Apart from the very low earnings, online commenters also noticed how the earnings were rounded down instead of up.
https://mothership.sg/2019/11/cardboard-collector-singapore-4-cents/
