Bogor mayor calls for more composting efforts<\/p>\n
Theresia Sufa, Bogor<\/p>\n
Mayor Diani Budiarto has urged Bogor people to produce more
\ncompost from organic household waste as part of the effort to
\nease the municipality's waste woes.<\/p>\n
\"The administration has not enough people or facilities to
\nhandle the waste ... we need public support, not only through
\nkeeping the city clean and separating organic and nonorganic
\nwaste, but also through producing compost.<\/p>\n
\"As regards its economic value, a sufficient supply of compost
\ncan also support organic agriculture, which is now being promoted
\nwith the city limits,\" Diani said during his address to a seminar
\non waste management held on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The seminar was attended by officials, the chief executives of
\nsubdistrict and district administrations, representatives of
\nstate forestry enterprises, environmental watchdogs, and
\nfertilizer producers from Bogor and the neighboring town of
\nCianjur, both in West Java.<\/p>\n
Bogor is one of the administrations, besides Jakarta and a
\nnumber of other municipalities in West Java, that has been
\nreceiving grants to encourage compost production from the World
\nBank since 2002. The money is channeled through the Office of the
\nState Minister for the Environment.<\/p>\n
The Office of the State Minister has set a production target
\nof 60,000 tons of compost for West Java in 2005.<\/p>\n
\"If we cannot meet the target by that time, the subsidies,
\nwhich total Rp 90 billion (US$9.67 million), will be withdrawn by
\nthe World Bank and given to another country. But if we are
\nsuccessful, the subsidies will be extended until 2009,\" Diani
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Bogor has centralized its compost production at the Galuga
\ndump in Leuwiliang, which produces about 20 tons of compost per
\nday. Meanwhile, local people produce about 2,100 cubic meters of
\nwaste per day.<\/p>\n
Djawahir, a compost producer from Cisarua, asserted that the
\nsubsidies had made it easier for producers to sell their compost
\non the market.<\/p>\n
He said that small-scale producers who could only produce one
\nor two tons of compost per day received a subsidy of Rp 350 for
\neach kilogram of the product, while mid-range producers with a
\ncapacity of between two and three tons per day received Rp 300,
\nand large-scale producers, who produced five tons or more per
\nday, received Rp 200 per kilo.<\/p>\n
\"The low price of compost definitely benefits the producers,
\nfarmers and other users,\" Djawahir remarked.<\/p>\n
Another attendee at the seminar, E. Aritonang, a director of
\nPT Trihandal Pancatama, a company that converts compost into
\ngranules, blamed the administration and the Office of the State
\nMinister for not widely disseminating information on the special
\nscheme to compost producers.<\/p>\n
\"Many compost producers don't even know about the subsidy,
\nwhile we need as much compost as we can get our hands on to
\nproduce the granules, which are mostly used by mining firms,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Aritonang revealed that transnational mining company Freeport
\nimported 30,000 tons of granules per year from China to
\nneutralize tailings at their mines in Indonesia so that the land
\ncould be restored to its original condition.<\/p>\n
\"It's ironic that this company has to import the material even
\nthough we have great potential for producing compost here.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bogor-mayor-calls-for-more-composting-efforts-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}