A couple, who were frustrated with the number of unsolicited flyers they were receiving in their mailbox, decided to submit an idea to the Housing Development Board (HDB) when they saw on Facebook that it was asking for ideas to solve the problem.

Republic Polytechnic lecturer Quek Yang Thee, 36, and his 35-year-old wife Tay Mei Lan, decided to add a drawer compartment to the design of current letterboxes. This will create a partition in the letterboxes, and separate flyers from letters.

The couple's idea clinched the top prize in the Facebook Call for Ideas on Unsolicited Flyers competition, launched in October last year. The competition is part of the Cool Ideas for Better HDB Living campaign launched in July 2011. Since then, HDB has received more than 100 ideas on how to improve living in its estates from emails and Facebook.

On Sunday, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Trade and Industry, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, presented the couple with the first prize. He also launched the second constituency competition in the Nee Soon and Sembawang GRC, following the first constituency competition in East Coast GRC last year.

Some 16 groups from Nee Soon and Sembawang GRC have signed up for this year's competition, which focuses on issues such as rainwater splashing, unattended cooking at home, and household recycling.