BPPT designs new waste management process

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.