leftovers were food for the pigs
in the 50s & 60s and up to the 70s, there were still pig farms in certain parts of singapore. i remember visiting my late uncle's farm in tiong bahru/bukit ho swee area where he reared pigs, ducks, chickens and some geese. the pigs looked like they needed a bath all the time and when they ate, they made slurping noises. by the 70s, pig farming was restricted to lim chu kang and ponggol.
pig farms were found in the rural sections of singapore like changi, mandai, upper thomson, lim chu kang and ponggol and on off-shore islands like pulau ubin and pulau tekong besar. that tiong bahru and bukit ho swee, located quite close to the town, also had pig farms must be quite difficult to imagine for the young people living there today.
pigs, being rather indiscriminate in their eating habits, were fed pig-swill which was a mixture of pig feed and waste product. the swill was collected by farmers from households all over the island. each farmer had his own territory for his collection. i think the swill collector whose area covered our kampong came from 'hai lam sua'. those days, leftovers were thrown into a big tin (used paint container) which was hung outside the house. the swill was cleared on a daily basis.
just before the chinese new year, when the tau yew man came round with his complimentary soy sauce and the provision shop owner dished out his complimentary bottled aerated drink, the swill collector would be distributing free eggs.
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I remember the swill man on his daily collection rounds each morning in our SIT block. It was in the 60s-70s. He supplied the large rectangular tin. It was a used cooking oil tin which was open at the top. We would throw all our leftover food into this tin.
He would come around carrying two other similar empty tins hung on the two ends of a pole resting across his shoulder. The he would go from one commune kitchen to another and pour the swill from the commune tin can into the tins he was carrying. When they were nearly full, he would carry them presumably to his cart or vehicle and then empty them into a large container.
We always avoided him because the swill smelled awful. I heard that it smelled even worse during cooking.
sometimes the swill would drip or spill along the way and it would leave a trail and smell.
In my kampong too there were a lots of pigs. Accidentally stepping on their dung was a common experience for us kids. Once my city cousins came visiting and one of the girls stepped on one. We had such a good laugh at her expense.
I remember there used to be a swill collector who came to our Commonwealth Drive flat on his daily rounds. Our neighbour would complain about the smell often. When the 'reward' of eggs and once a live chicken was given out to us, we shared a meal with the neighbour and they stopped complaining of the smell!
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