March 10, 2026
JOHOR BARU – The “rubbish house” in Taman Sentosa has once again accumulated bout 30 tons of various waste since clean-up operations were temporarily halted during the festive season.
When authorities arrived to carry out another clean-up on March 5, the 70-year-old meowner, a retired teacher, lost his temper. Police officers were present to control the situation.
A massive clean-up to clear the garbage accumulated for 20 years was carried out by the deployment of 35 volunteers, Johor Bahru City Council, Southern Waste Management Environment and the police July 27 last year.
Among the items cleared were rusted rice cookers, broken furniture, shattered crockery, and thousands of empty cans and bottles.
Subsequent maintenance work has mainly been handled by a transport operator who assists in removing, sorting and selling recyclable materials from the house.
Council member Sally Ng urged members of public stop sending unwanted stuff to the retirement teacher.
Neighbors said the retired teacher started collecting garbage at 3am daily and he returned home several times with his “collections”.
He slept in the back alley because the trash had overtaken every inch of space and he was unable to enter the house.
An excavator, three 16-tonne lorries and 10 cleaners were deployed to clean up this time which cost about RM10,000.