Aris's Story: Keeping Purwakarta's Face Clean on Victory Day

Family gatherings during Lebaran take a backseat for sanitation workers in Purwakarta Regency, West Java. From the night of takbiran until after Eid prayers, they remain on the streets sweeping to ensure the city’s cleanliness.

One of them is Aris (43), a sanitation officer with the Purwakarta Regency Environmental Office. He should have been with his family on takbiran night, but his sense of responsibility towards his job takes precedence to keep the city clean from various types of rubbish.

Aris admits that after nearly 10 years of service as a sanitation worker, he is accustomed to cleaning the Purwakarta city centre with his colleagues every takbiran night.

Not just on takbiran night, during Lebaran as well, Aris stays on the roads to clean rubbish from several locations where Eid prayers were held. Rubbish from mats like newspapers must also be cleared immediately.

“Work comes first because it is an obligation as an employee in the Waste Management Division,” said Aris, a part-time PPPK employee at the Purwakarta Regency Environmental Office, in the early hours of Saturday (21/3).

Sanitation workers from the Waste Management Division combed areas starting from in front of Bayu Asih Regional Hospital in Jalan Veteran, to the city centre, ending at Sindang Kasih, covering about three kilometres. They cleaned scattered rubbish or that collected by urban residents.

To support Purwakarta’s cleanliness, the Purwakarta Regency Environmental Office deployed 100 sanitation workers, supported by seven pick-up rubbish transport vehicles and one dump truck.