Waste management needs revamping<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An environmental activist and a toxic waste expert called on the
\ncity administration on Saturday to decentralize waste management
\nin order to reduce thousands of cubic meters of garbage from
\nbeing dumped into the city's rivers.<\/p>\n
\"I think the city administration needs to engage communities
\nand family units in managing the waste, since they are the ones
\nwho know well about their neighborhoods. Make them responsible,\"
\nartist and environmental activist Iga Mawarni said during an
\nEarth Day commemoration on Saturday.<\/p>\n
To highlight water pollution in the city, the World Wildlife
\nFund (WWF), in cooperation with the environment student group
\nMapala from the University of Indonesia, made a four-minute video
\npresentation showing the changing purity of water in the Ciliwung
\nriver.<\/p>\n
Samples of water were taken from seven spots from the river
\nupstream at Desa Cempaka village in Bogor, West Java, to its
\ndownstream at Muara Angke in North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The water purity starts to change in Puncak, where kiosks
\nthrow their garbage into the river, then it gets darker in
\nCentral Jakarta, where many offices and industries channel their
\nwaste into the river,\" said Kriskuarto Tutuko, a member of
\nMapalla UI, who did the documentation.<\/p>\n
Iga suggested that community units, especially those located
\nalong city river banks, be motivated to manage their waste by
\ngiving them rewards and punishments.<\/p>\n
\"If a community unit fails to manage their garbage, they
\nshould get sanctions,\" the jazz singer said, adding that
\nmechanisms for implementing the idea should be discussed together
\nby the central government, the city administration and
\nrepresentatives of city residents.<\/p>\n
The city has 2,663 community units, which could be a great
\nasset to helping to manage the more than 25,000 cubic meters of
\nwaste that the capital produces everyday. Must of the waste is
\nbelieved to be dumped into the city's rivers, aggravating floods
\nduring the rainy season.<\/p>\n
Expert Lukas Adhiakso, meanwhile, said that toxic waste in the
\ncity's 13 rivers has already reached alarming levels.<\/p>\n
\"We have all kinds of waste starting from households waste,
\npesticides to industrial and organic waste. All of these elements
\nreduce the content of oxygen in the rivers and cause deaths to
\nalmost any forms of life in the river. The only thing that can
\nsurvive are bacteria, which cause many kinds of disease,\" said
\nLukas, who has a doctorate in toxicology.<\/p>\n
He also suggested that the city administration require all
\nhouseholds in the capital to separate their waste into organic
\nand inorganic, and encourage communities to compost organic
\nwaste.<\/p>\n
\"The waste composting should be decentralized, meaning it
\nshould not be done at a final dumping site, but at the
\nneighborhood level, such as a community unit,\" said Lukas, who
\nworks for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).<\/p>\n
\"Currently garbage is transferred from one dumping site to
\nanother, which actually does not reduce the amount of garbage.
\nThe problem is if one dumping site has problem, the whole waste
\ndumping chain is interrupted, and rivers become the alternative
\ndumping site,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Garbage disposal is now handled by the city administration,
\nwith communities only playing marginal roles. (006)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/waste-management-needs-revamping-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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