An American traveller has earned praise online after spending much of her time in Singapore picking up rubbish along East Coast Park instead of simply enjoying the beach.
Jennifer Lee, who is from Indiana in the United States, has documented 29 days of beach clean-up activities as of Oct. 1. She regularly visits the shoreline equipped with a litter picker and large rubbish bags, collecting waste that has washed up on the beach.
Lee began posting videos of her clean-up efforts in October 2025. Since then, her posts have attracted support from viewers who have thanked her for volunteering her time to help keep the beach clean.
Plastic bottles and bags are among the most common items she finds. But some discoveries have been far less ordinary. During one clean-up, she found a refrigerator washed up on the shore, while another day brought what appeared to be part of a jet ski.
Because larger objects can be difficult for her to remove and dispose of, Lee generally focuses on collecting smaller pieces of rubbish that she can carry away in bags.
Her clean-ups have also given her unexpected encounters with Singapore’s wildlife. On her 26th day, she spotted a group of otters swimming and feeding in the waters off East Coast Park.
Lee has suggested that much of the rubbish she encounters may have been carried toward Singapore’s shores by sea currents. Singapore’s National Environment Agency has similarly noted that beaches along the southern coast can receive increased amounts of marine debris during the Southwest monsoon, when stronger winds and higher tides carry flotsam toward shore.
Her efforts have prompted grateful reactions online, with Singaporeans thanking her for helping to clean up the coastline. Some viewers have even said her videos inspired them to begin doing their own beach clean-ups.
One social media user said they had started cleaning an area near car park C3 and described the activity as satisfying after seeing the amount of rubbish collected. Lee’s regular posts have therefore gone beyond documenting her own travels and encouraged others to take part.
Lee is currently travelling around Asia and plans to leave Singapore for her next destination soon. She said the encouragement from viewers motivates her to continue collecting rubbish while she is still in the country.
Singapore already has organised programmes encouraging members of the public to conduct clean-ups at beaches and parks, including East Coast Park. Volunteers can register for designated locations and borrow litter-picking equipment from CleanPods.
For Lee, what began as a personal effort during her travels has become a daily routine — one bag of rubbish at a time — while also drawing attention to the wider issue of marine waste reaching Singapore’s beaches.
