Boy Scouts help in garbage clean-up

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More than 1,000 scouts went to work on Saturday cleaning up mounting garbage in the Senen area in Central Jakarta.

They not only picked up the trash, but also worked at separating organic trash from nonorganic waste and placing them into different plastic bags donated by UNESCO.

Organic waste was placed into green plastic bags, nonorganic trash, such as plastic bottles, was put into yellow bags while dangerous trash, such as used batteries, was put into red plastic bags.

At least six trucks transported the garbage to a temporary dump in Rawasari, Central Jakarta.

One of the boy scouts, Bambang, said some of the organic trash would be processed into fertilizer, while the nonorganic would be recycled.

"Besides helping the city, we also wanted to highlight that garbage can be processed into something useful," Bambang said.

He slightly regretted that the city "gave" its garbage to private firms, while its residents, including scouts, could actually process the garbage into useful things.

The city administration signed two memoranda of understanding with two private firms last week to process garbage into fertilizer, ethyl alcohol and plastic raw materials.

Meanwhile, the scouting movement's city chapter chairman Sugiarto said his organization would continue to campaign for the separation of garbage.

"We also plan to clean up garbage every few months," said Sugiarto, a spokesman of the Indonesian Air Force.

According to him, public involvement in separating trash was important to speed up the processing of garbage and avoid environmental damage.

The crowded Senen area was cleaner with less litter after the scouts ended their activities at about 11 a.m.

But garbage remained scattered along many other roads and rivers across the city on Saturday.

Mounting heaps of garbage were seen at the edge of Manggarai floodgate, South Jakarta. Garbage could also been seen floating on the surface of Ciliwung River around the gate.

The gate's officer, Suharjo, said that the garbage would be transported to the city's main dump in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi on Monday.

"There is no garbage truck on Saturday and Sunday," Suhardjo told the Jakarta Post.

Some workers were seen fishing trash out of the river to allow the water to flow more freely through the gate.

Garbage was also seen in the Penjaringan area of North Jakarta.

About 100 Penjaringan residents staged a rally, protesting the city administration for having not transported the garbage for almost two weeks.

The city plans to carry out a cleaning up session in the area on Sunday while the boy scout movement will also conduct similar activities in nearby Pluit.

The recent floods have produced an extra 4,000 cubic meters of trash every day, while the city produces an average of 26,000 cubic meters per day.