Environment Minister Appreciates Bandung City's Gaslah Programme
The Gaslah (Waste Collector and Processor) programme, which is one of the efforts in regional-based waste management in Bandung City, received direct attention from the Environment Minister, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, during his working visit to several community-based waste processing sites in Bandung on Saturday, 28 February.
During inspections in the RW 19 area of Antapani Tengah Ward and RW 05 of Dago Ward, Minister Hanif assessed Bandung City’s approach to upstream waste management as the most fundamental step in solving urban waste problems.
“This is the most fundamental step in waste management. Many countries require 10 to 15 years to accomplish the same thing,” he stated.
Hanif stated that solving the waste problem cannot be entirely burden on the final processing facility (TPA), particularly given the current capacity limitations at the Sarimukti TPA. The success of waste management is actually determined by changes in behaviour and the community’s ability to manage waste from their own residential environment.
“The most ideal step amid this waste emergency is to resolve waste at the source. I also appreciate Bandung City’s consistency in building a citizen-based waste management ecosystem through the Gaslah programme, which directly involves the community,” he explained.
The minister hopes that similar programmes continue to expand with support from all stakeholders, including the business sector and area managers, to be able to manage their waste independently. On the other hand, Hanif noted that several areas in Bandung City have demonstrated good practices in regional-based waste management, which are an important part of efforts to reduce city waste sustainably.
“It turns out Bandung City can do it. Many RWs are able to resolve their own waste problems. And community-based approaches become the main foundation so that waste management does not solely depend on transportation systems towards the downstream. We believe that solving waste in cities cannot be burden downstream when downstream has no outlet. Therefore, solving at RW level becomes very important,” he stated.
Bandung City Mayor Muhammad Farhan stated that the Environment Minister’s visit was a follow-up to intensive coordination between central and local governments in accelerating waste management in Bandung City.
“This is one form of follow-up. We continue to coordinate; yesterday we held a national coordination meeting regarding waste management on 25-26 February. And this time the Minister has already inspected it directly,” he explained.
In addition to Gaslah, Farhan continued, several waste management programmes in Bandung City that have been running for a long time include Kang Pisman (Reduce, Separate, Utilise). More recently, Bandung City Administration has sought to integrate these programmes with the Buruan Sae and Dapur Dahsat programmes. These three programmes are Circular Programmes that support each other.