Amid the dense settlements of Petamburan, Central Jakarta, household\nkitchen waste is now finding an innovative solution. Leftover rice,\nfruit peels, and vegetable pulp, which usually pile up in disposal\nsites, are now being converted by residents into fuel for cooking. This\ntransformation is the result of a community empowerment programme by the\nCommunity Service Team (PkM) from Mercu Buana University (UMB), which\nhas introduced household biogas installations in the area.<\/p>\n
This programme serves as an answer to a classic problem in densely\npopulated urban areas: limited land that makes independent organic waste\nmanagement difficult, despite the daily increase in kitchen waste\nvolume. Through a Community Service grant scheme funded by the\nDirectorate of Research and Community Service, Ministry of Higher\nEducation, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek), the UMB team\ninstalled biogas digester units that can be operated directly by\nresidents.<\/p>\n
The head of the implementation team, Mirnayani, emphasised that this\ninitiative is not merely about installing technical equipment, but about\nchanging community habits from the root cause, namely waste sorting at\nthe household level. \u201cAll this time, kitchen waste has been considered\nworthless, when in fact it is the most potential source to be converted\ninto energy. The quality of the biogas produced depends heavily on how\ndisciplined residents are in sorting their waste from home,\u201d said\nMirnayani.<\/p>\n
The waste-to-energy process is carried out through a simple yet\nimpactful mechanism. Organic waste is shredded and fermented to produce\ntwo main beneficial products for the residents. What sets this programme\napart from typical equipment donations is its focus on sustainability\nthrough the preparation of local operators. Residents are not only\ntaught how to turn on the installation, but are trained in-depth to\nhandle the entire process chain. The training covers raw material\ncollection, shredding techniques, digester loading, gas production\nmonitoring, daily logbook entries, and risk management procedures such\nas handling gas leaks. With competent local operators, the installation\nis expected to remain optimally functional even after the university\u2019s\nmentoring period ends.<\/p>\n
The programme, which also involves Nur Indah and Nabila as team\nmembers, along with UMB students as field assistants, targets a larger\nvision: local food and energy self-sufficiency. If the model in\nPetamburan runs consistently, there is significant potential to\nreplicate it in other dense settlements in Jakarta. This step is\nexpected to address two challenges simultaneously: reducing the burden\non increasingly full final disposal sites and lowering household energy\ncosts for the community.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/petamburan-residents-convert-kitchen-waste-into-biogas-1784731873", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }