82 percent of firms do not treat waste
82 percent of firms do not treat waste
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang
Some 82 percent of 1,061 of industrial firms in Tangerang
municipality do not have waste treatment facilities as required
by law. Therefore, most of them do not process their waste
effectively. Some even just dump their untreated waste directly
into the river.
"To date, only 187 firms have waste treatment facilities but
apparently most of the facilities do not work properly," said the
municipal environmental agency head Muhamad Akip on Saturday.
He added that 874 other firms -- comprising of small, medium
and large firms -- do not have waste treatment facility.
"The firms always say in their semester reports submitted to
the agency that providing their own waste treatment facility is
very costly. We have warned them to follow the regulation," he
said.
According to Akip, the municipality plans to conduct a study
to build integrated waste treatment facilities to collectively
process the industrial waste of several firms. However, the
project would require a huge amount of funding and a large plot
of land.
"As of now, we have yet to find the right site for the
construction of integrated waste treatment facilities. The
facilities will be built based on the type of waste produced by
industrial firms," he said.
Akip said the results of tests at the Office of the State
Minister of the Environment laboratory revealed the oxygen
content in water samples taken from the Cisadane River, in the
border between Tangerang regency and municipality, has been
declining.
The minister's office will continue monitoring the water
quality from the river upstream in Bogor through Tangerang to
find out which firms dump the most waste into the river.
Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim announced on June 10 nine firms
allegedly responsible for polluting the municipality. They are PT
Argo Pantes, PT Pelita Cengkareng, PT Indometal, PT Surya Renggo,
PT Lengtat Tangerang Leather, PT Tonikitex, Harlipan Batik,
Sejahtera Metal and Vonicc Latyexindo. The mayor also asked
Tangerang Police to investigate and prosecute them.
Non-governmental organization Forum (Forum NGO) chairman
Muslih Amin said the absence of waste treatment facilities was
the fault of the environmental agency.
"The agency has the authority to take stern measures against
alleged polluters who do not build waste treatment facilities,"
he told The Jakarta Post.
He urged the administration to involve the community in
conservation efforts. He also asked the agency to establish an
independent institution to resolve environmental disputes out of
the court.
The existence of such an institution is important to ensure
that disputes over environmental pollution between industrial
firms and the administration or the society are solved
effectively, he added.