East Lombok Nature Lovers Mark World Environment Day on a Mountain of Rubbish

Dozens of nature lovers in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), unfurled banners atop a mountain of rubbish at the Ijobalit final disposal site in Labuhan Haji District during a World Environment Day commemoration on Friday. They sought to highlight the seriousness with which the East Lombok Regency Government is handling the waste problem. Action coordinator Guguh Putraji stated that the symbolic protest on the rubbish heap served as a reminder to the government about the importance of proper waste management. He argued that the East Lombok government has yet to show a serious commitment to resolving the waste issue. “We are celebrating Environment Day with a symbolic action at the landfill as a reminder of the importance of good waste management. Even today, the East Lombok Government has shown no good faith in solving the waste problem,” Guguh said. Guguh assessed that there has been no clear waste management programme in East Lombok to date. He noted that of the 11 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle waste processing sites, only two units remain operational. “Waste management is not just about putting rubbish in bins only for it to end up at the landfill. Many waste banks have been established, and many TPS3R facilities exist, but most are not functioning,” he concluded. He also criticised the East Lombok government’s policy, which he believes focuses solely on expanding the landfill area. According to Guguh, this step is not a long-term solution and carries the potential to create new pollution on residents’ agricultural land and in the sea around the landfill. “The solution lies in upstream waste management, such as handling it at the household level. If everything just piles up at the landfill, it is futile. There will be a new problem, namely seawater pollution because the landfill location is close to the shoreline and also to residents’ farmland,” Guguh explained. Meanwhile, environmental activist Mariadi from Oasistala East Lombok detailed that the amount of waste entering the Ijobalit landfill reaches 112 tonnes per day from all over East Lombok. The waste is predominantly sent from urban areas. “Many areas are still not covered by the Environmental Agency, and the largest contributors of waste are the urban areas,” Mariadi said. According to Mariadi, this situation puts the Ijobalit landfill at risk of overcapacity in the near future. Moreover, the landfill continues to receive hundreds of tonnes of waste every day. “From its initial area of 8.5 hectares, it has now been expanded to 10.7 hectares. So if we multiply that by 112 tonnes per day, it will automatically increase the capacity, yet there is no concrete action from the government; it is merely buried here,” Mariadi explained. He urged the East Lombok government to immediately take concrete steps to address the waste problem. He stressed that mitigation needs to be carried out early because East Lombok is the regency with the largest population and the widest area in NTB. “Clear mitigation is needed because East Lombok is one of the regencies with the most people and the largest area,” Mariadi added.