BPPT designs new waste management process
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) proposed on Thursday a more profitable garbage management system to the Jakarta administration to replace the current treatment methods which are inferior and inadequate.
"Our garbage problem is worsening every single day because the existing methods are no longer adequate to handle the increasing amount of garbage," said Sri Bebassari, an expert with BPPT.
Therefore, BPPT has proposed a long-term integrated garbage management system.
Sri said that Jakarta must allocate Rp 6.5 trillion (US$764.7 million) to develop a dump with the capacity to handle the city's daily garbage output of 6,500 tons. Such a dump would be usable for 25 years, she said.
"This dump will process most of the organic waste into fertilizer while the nonorganic garbage will be processed into plastic, tin and paper. These side products can also be sold," she said. "Thus, both outcomes will be profitable for the city."
Sri hoped that many investors would be interested in investing in the garbage business. However, the government must not make the commercial products their main concern as the garbage processing facility should create a nontoxic and zero waste environment.
"The planned dump in Bojong (in Bogor regency) will use the technology we have proposed but poor promotion has created suspicion among local residents. The Jakarta administration must hire professional communication experts to clarify to the locals the benefits of the dump," she said.
The Bojong dump will use ball press German technology that will separate organic and nonorganic garbage and minimize possible environmental damage.
For the time being, Jakarta still needs to use the existing dumps including Bantar Gebang because "to build a new integrated dump will take three years."
Sri said that in the long run, an effort should be made to install a system wherein the entire community participates in maintaining a clean environment.
However, she underlined that the technology alone would not ensure the success of the system unless several preliminary steps were taken.
First of all, she said, Indonesia needed to have a law on garbage, on which all regulations would be based because most other countries had nationally binding laws on waste management.
"Singapore, for example, has a law on waste management while the prime minister in Japan is directly responsible for waste management," said Sri.
She said that the draft of the law had been examined by the House of Representatives Commission VIII on the environment, science and technological affairs and also by the Office of the State Minister of the Environment.
"We hope the law will determine who will be responsible for garbage disposal and create a system where the public can participate actively in managing it," said Sri.