Boy Scouts help in garbage clean-up
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.