An environmentally friendly 'city' on the edge of Jakarta

TANGERANG (JP): Both state and private sector property developers should learn from how PT Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) translated into reality its commitment to building a vast but environmentally friendly real estate development.

Although it was awarded Rumah Asri (Lovely Home) awards by the government in 1997 and 2000, the company keeps on finding new ways of developing a quality environment at its 6,000-hectare BSD site here in Tangerang.

"Among the latest innovations we have implemented so far, for example, is designing houses with environmentally friendly materials and to be more energy efficient so that the owners need not equip the houses with air conditioners and can switch of all the lights during the day," Dhony Rahajoe, spokesman for the developer, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

One of the particularly impressive features that many developers could learn from is how PT BSD, led by the country's property maestro Ciputra, manages the domestic waste produced everyday by its residents.

No, it's not only about the recycling process, but how PT BSD has managed to encourage discipline among the residents, and at the same time to provide benefits for the residents, the company itself and also people like scavengers who live near the complex.

Don't forget that the haves and the well-educated in Indonesia are not always aware of the importance of preserving the environment.

One doesn't have to look too far to see how people living in luxury housing complexes here treat their domestic waste and use water in a very inappropriate way. One can also witness any day of the week how Jakartans throw cigarette buts, fast-food packages or any other kind of rubbish out the window while driving without feeling so much as a pang of guilt or shame.

Since 1997 when buyers first started to occupy their houses in BSD, all domestic waste has been brought to a one-hectare site inside the complex in which the waste is selected manually by scavengers.

According to Ina, an employee at the location, about 40 percent of the 250 cubic meters of waste dumped daily by BSD residents can be recycled into fertilizer.

"The gardens in the BSD complex also use fertilizer from here," explained Dhony.

Ina, who has 17 staff members in the waste recycling plant, said that the dried fertilizer was also available for sale at the BSD Employee's Cooperative shop at Rp 750 per kilogram.

Usually, she said, it took about a month for the waste to break down and produce dry fertilizer.

While 40 percent of the waste is either collected by the scavengers or collected at a temporary dumping site before being collected by Tangerang Sanitation Department trucks, BSD burns the remaining 20 percent in an incinerator located next to the recycling plant.

The ashes are then scattered on empty plots or used as fertilizer for certain plants.

"We only burn waste which produces nontoxic smoke," Ina said.

Designed to eventually accommodate 600,000 people in its vast area with all the facilities appropriate for a self-contained city, BSD could be dubbed a pioneer in the real estate industry in its treatment of waste, the residents, neighbors and, overall, the environment.

So, it's high time for other property developers to consider, in their own ways, trying to save the environment before it's too late.

Like it or not, many developers here are used to abdicating their responsibilities, including the problem of garbage, often leaving this to the buyers who mostly prefer to ignore the problem instead of bringing the developers to court. (bsr)