Denpasar strives to deal with growing mountain of garbage

Denpasar strives to deal with growing mountain of garbage

Text and photo by I Wayan Juniartha

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): It was no usual stroll-in-the morning
stuff. Forget about a green city park with fresh air and birds
singing. And sneakers, or any other sports shoes, would
definitely be out of place.

Industrial-strength boots are what is needed to explore the
Suwung Main Garbage Dump, some 15 kilometers south of here.

It was scorching at only 9 a.m. and the air reeked with the
smell of putrefying garbage.

A file of garbage trucks entered the facility -- 10 hectares
of open fields with makeshift fences here and there -- bringing
with them garbage from every corner of Denpasar city and Badung
regency.

Each truck was greeted by dozens of scavengers, all properly
dressed for the job with long-sleeved shirts and wide brimmed
bamboo hats, ready to pick out anything that may be worth
reselling.

All the bustle of activity could not hide the fact that the
facility has seen better days.

A public official at the site revealed how lack of proper
equipment and technology, and the ever-increasing flow of
garbage, had stretched the facility to the maximum.

"The city desperately needs a new dump, or a new method and
technology to manage its waste," he said, speaking on the
condition of anonymity.

Newly released data from local environmental non-governmental
organization, the Wisnu Foundation, showed that in 2000 the
people of Denpasar produced 1,029 cubic meters of garbage each
day, a huge 100 cubic meter increase from 1999.

In addition, 345 tourist facilities in Denpasar produced about
344 cubic meters of garbage each day.

"Without proper management, in one year's time the dumped
garbage will be the size of a soccer field, and as tall as the
Grand Bali Beach hotel, reaching 72 meters in height," Wisnu's
Yoga Atmadja said.

There was a plan to acquire more land for the facility, but it
was bound to trigger an outcry from conservationists since a
precious mangrove forest surrounds most of the Suwung facility.

The approach of enlarging the dump would require additional
land each year. Wisnu Foundation estimated that by 2010 Suwung
would need another 7.33 hectares, in 2015 it would need 11.5
hectares and an additional 16.5 hectares by 2020.

The administrations of three regencies -- Badung, Tabanan,
Gianyar -- and Denpasar city recently deliberated on a new plan
to build a joint garbage dump. The mammoth facility reportedly
would be built on a barren open field somewhere in Tabanan area.

Again, there is likely to be public opposition, this time from
locals who are sure to be unhappy about living next to a dump.

"What Denpasar needs is a new garbage management system. Give
people more responsibility to manage their own garbage. There
needs to be a financial restructuring of the provincial and
regencies budgets over the fund for their respective garbage
management agencies," environmentalist Made Suarnatha said.

Community based

Wisnu Foundation's activists have prepared a model for what
they term a community-based garbage management system, a marriage
of community participation and recycling.

In the system, each household would be responsible for
separating organic and inorganic garbage. The local village or
community organization would then organize a way to transfer the
household garbage to the temporary dumping site.

"The village can cover the transportation cost by reselling
anything worth reselling of its garbage to a third party, and by
doing so it will reduce the volume of garbage at the temporary
dumping site," said Yoga Atmadja.

Meanwhile, the government-run garbage agencies would only be
responsible for transporting the garbage from the temporary site
to the main dump site.

"Based on our experience almost 66 percent of the total volume
of garbage can be recycled or resold. So only 34 percent would
reach the main site," Yoga Atmadja said.

The good news is that Denpasar already has 167 self-run
community garbage management groups, but they do not have
sufficient knowledge of recycling. Those groups would be a good
foundation to implement the new system.

Government agencies do almost all the work in the current
system, with the community and individual participation being
only 12 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Another major concern is funding. Suarnatha pointed out how in
1998 the government-run Denpasar Garbage Management Agency spent
almost 41 percent of its annual Rp 10.1 billion provincial budget
on routine expenditure, such as for the salaries of its around
1,000 workers, and not on program expenditure.

"It needs to be immediately restructured," Suarnatha said.

"The provincial and regency administration should also start
allocating more money for their garbage management systems,
perhaps by launching incentive programs for private companies and
individuals that have committed themselves to eco-friendly
garbage treatment efforts."