Disorganized waste management takes its toll, again<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Incidents surrounding garbage disposal opened and closed the year
\n2004.<\/p>\n
Residents of Cilincing, North Jakarta, witnessed the death of
\nthousands of fish in their fish ponds following the Jakarta
\nadministration's decision to dump its waste in the surrounding
\narea. The decision was made after the Bekasi municipality closed
\nBantar Gebang, which has served as a sanitary landfill dump for
\nJakarta's 6,000 tons of daily waste since 1986.<\/p>\n
Black liquid from untreated waste seeped into the fish farms,
\nkilling the fish that were local residents' main source of
\nincome.<\/p>\n
The administration eventually closed the dump after the Office
\nof the State Minister for the Environment intervened and
\nconfirmed that the surrounding areas had been seriously polluted.<\/p>\n
The latest incident occurred on Nov. 22 when police officers
\nfired at thousands of protesters in Bojong village in Bogor
\nregency. The bloody clash sent six residents to hospital to be
\ntreated for gunshot wounds while 18 were named suspects for
\nallegedly causing civil disturbance in a trial that started on
\nDec. 13.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, 14 police officers have been found guilty of acting
\nrecklessly to restore order during the incident while two others
\nwere declared guilty of violating the Criminal Code, for causing
\nserious injury to others. Six of them, however, were only given
\nadministrative sanctions.<\/p>\n
The incident was sparked by the trial of the waste treatment
\nfacility in Bojong, managed by Jakarta's appointed operator PT
\nWira Guna Sejahtera. Residents feared that the surrounding area
\nwould suffer from environmental damage and their health would be
\nat stake as had happened in Bantar Gebang.<\/p>\n
The plant has the capacity to process 2,000 tons of waste
\ndaily from Jakarta with an additional 400 tons coming from Bogor.
\nPT Wira Guna Sejahtera claimed it would take at least a month to
\nrepair the damage to the Rp 110 billion (US$12.23 million)
\nfacility. The incident has cost the company some Rp 8 billion.<\/p>\n
Experts have underlined that the city's unprofessional waste
\nmanagement is the cause of the waste crisis, which has recurred
\nsince 2001.<\/p>\n
"We have only witnessed a minor impact of it (unprofessional
\nmanagement) ... More serious problems will happen if we do not
\naddress the problem of managing our waste in a comprehensive
\nway," said Sri Bebassari, a noted solid waste expert with the
\nAgency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).<\/p>\n
Sri has long criticized the administration for its failure to
\nintroduce a comprehensive concept in handling garbage although
\nthe city has experienced a garbage crisis several times as a
\nconsequence of its dependency on Bantar Gebang.<\/p>\n
The first crisis was in late 2001, when the Bekasi
\nadministration closed the 104-hectare dump due to residents'
\nprotests. Garbage piled up on every corner of the city's streets
\nafter the closure, inviting platoons of flies and spreading a
\nputrid odor.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta and Bekasi administrations then signed a
\nmemorandum of understanding in early 2002 to extend the operation
\nof Bantar Gebang. Under its terms, Jakarta was required to pay a
\nRp 14 billion fee to Bekasi in 2002 and another Rp 8 billion in
\n2003.<\/p>\n
In a bid to reduce its dependency on Bantar Gebang, Sutiyoso's
\nadministration assured the public that there would be no more
\ngarbage problems this year.<\/p>\n
The governor repeatedly expressed optimism that two-thirds of
\nJakarta's daily waste would be crushed by machines provided by
\nprivate companies.<\/p>\n
He referred to three planned waste treatment plants in Duri
\nKosambi, West Jakarta; Cilincing, North Jakarta and Bojong. Out
\nof the three, only the plant in Bojong was developed because
\nother investors withdrew their commitment after failing to reach
\nan agreement with the administration.<\/p>\n
The withdrawal of investors gave the administration no
\nalternative but to continue using Bantar Gebang. It failed to
\nlearn from its past mistakes when it developed the Rp 400 billion
\nincineration plant at Bojong, which finally sparked violent
\nprotests from local residents.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the City Council Commission D for development
\naffairs, Sayogo Hendrosubroto, argued that incineration plants
\nmight not be the right solution.<\/p>\n
The commission encouraged the officials to come back with a
\ncomprehensive concept on waste management.<\/p>\n
"The council considers that a comprehensive solution to the
\ngarbage problem must be our priority. Therefore, we will agree to
\nallocate a significant amount of money for waste treatment as
\nlong as the City Sanitation Agency can convince us with their
\nnext plans," he said.<\/p>\n
Sri said there was no immediate solution to the waste problem,
\nbut there should be a master plan to start with.<\/p>\n
Sri outlined five aspects -- legal, institutional, funding,
\npeople's participation and technology -- that should be seriously
\naddressed by the administration in creating a master plan.<\/p>\n
First, she said, the city should consider a bylaw on waste
\nmanagement. Second, a new approach should be taken where the
\nsanitation agency would not be the sole institution to deal with
\ngarbage.<\/p>\n
"There should be coordination between various agencies in an
\nintegrated concept of garbage management under the city
\nsecretary. We can look to the Japanese government for which waste
\nmanagement involves 15 ministries," she said.<\/p>\n
Third, the administration and the council, with the help of a
\nteam of experts from various disciplines, should start
\ncalculating how much money will be needed to develop waste
\ntreatment facilities and how long it would take before the city
\ncould afford such projects.<\/p>\n
Sri added that any system would not work well if the people's
\nparticipation was ignored.<\/p>\n
She suggested the administration develop a garbage sorting
\nmechanism based on the type of garbage. However, this method will
\nnot be successful if residents are not aware or do not feel
\nobliged to separate the garbage before disposing of it.<\/p>\n
Sri pointed out that technology to treat garbage, which is the
\nlast of the five aspects, must be implemented properly while
\npaying attention to the other four.<\/p>\n
She analogized proper waste treatment development to
\ndeveloping a modern international airport in a city.<\/p>\n
"If an airport is the main lobby of a hotel, then a waste
\ntreatment facility is the toilet. A grand lobby may attract
\nvisitors, but when they see how dirty the toilet is, no one will
\ncome back," she said.<\/p>",
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