Dump closure puts many out of work

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Scavenger Emay Sumarna has been "out of work" since last Monday when mountains of garbage at Leuwigajah dump collapsed, killing 89 people and burying 70 houses. As of Saturday, a total of 54 others were still missing.

The disaster forced the 35-year-old to take his wife, Rini, and his daughter to the house of his wife's parents in Cililin.

"I was once a factory worker but got fired in the 1990s. Then I worked on construction sites, but that didn't last -- so I started as a scavenger six years ago," he told The Jakarta Post.

As a scavenger, he can bring home at least Rp 10,000 (US$1.1) per day, lunch money for many, but enough to feed his whole family.

The resident of Cilimus hamlet in East Batujajar subdistrict, which lost half its houses in the disaster, worries about the possible closure of the dump and its impact on his future.

"I'm confused," he said softly.

Some 1,000 people in Cireundeu, the post for Leuwigajah dump scavengers, collect recyclables for a living.

The garbage on the 25-hectare site had been piled 20 meters high at the time of the disaster.

Ade, 45, a coordinator of the scavengers, who has been in the area since the 1990s, said scavengers work right through the night in shifts.

During the day, around 1,000 scavengers work in the dump while at night, that number reduces by half.

"Those who work at night are mostly from surrounding areas such as Cilimus, Pojok and Cireundeu villages," he said.

Others arrived at the dump to scavenge from as far away as Yogyakarta and Semarang.

Ade said there are around 40 coordinators, each of whom manage 10 scavengers.

Most scavengers make around Rp10,000 and Rp30,000 per day. As a coordinator, Ade brings home as much as Rp800,000 per day.

"Good enough for my family," said the man who has two wives and six children.

More than 10 trucks transport recyclables collected by the scavengers to buyers in Cigondewah.

Mak Otas, 80 -- who mostly works as a scavenger at night -- said she did not know what she would do if the dump closed for good.

At the time of the disaster, she was on her way home from the dump.

"I didn't even have the chance to shower -- suddenly I heard a large bang, three times. It was followed by a sound like thunder," said the old woman, who survived after crawling 15 meters away from her house to safety. Her son in-law and two grandchildren, who had been sleeping at the time of the disaster, were buried under the mounds of garbage.

Although she lost loved ones at the dump, Mak Otas wants to return to scavenging. "What else can I do? Is there someone out there who can give a job to an old woman like me?" she asked.

In the disaster, Ade said, at least 12 scavengers were killed but their bodies are yet to be recovered.

"All jobs carry risks. Maybe that was a risk we faced as scavengers. But we're not afraid to go back to work as that's the only job we have," he said.

Head of West Java Environment Office Ade Suhanda, said that Leuwigajah dump, which receives garbage from the three areas' seven million people, was able to accommodate more garbage.

So far, he said, no decision had been made as to whether the dump will stay open.

"If we closed it, where would the garbage go? Then again, we must also take into account the residents' resistance to its existence," Ade said. "It's a sensitive decision because the disaster claimed so many lives."