Environmentalist urges action at city dump

JAKARTA (JP): An environmentalist called on the city administration on Monday to stop burning activities at the city's garbage dump, Bantar Gebang, in Bekasi.

"The burning of garbage is not suggested in sanitary garbage management," said Achmad Safrudin, executive director of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesia Environmental Forum (Walhi).

He acknowledged that burning garbage would accelerate the decomposition of waste matter, rather than allowing refuse to slowly decompose.

"But the smoke from the burning of waste matter pollutes the atmosphere of the surrounding areas," he said.

"The smog -- a mixture of smoke and carbon monoxide -- will cause troubles for people with asthma."

The afternoon daily, Suara Pembaruan, quoted a doctor at Bekasi General Hospital as saying on Sunday that smog generated from burning garbage was more dangerous than emissions from forest fires in Kalimantan.

"Bantar Gebang's smog contains more poisonous gases, such as carbon monoxide and methane, than burning forest's smog," said the doctor, who requested anonymity.

Paulus Agus Winarso, who works as a meteorologist, said the concentration of smog at the site would increase the temperature of the surrounding areas.

Paulus, also a member of the National Research Council, said temperature changes would also affect the health of residents living in the surrounding areas.

Media reports recently quoted people living in the surrounding Bantar Gebang areas as saying they had been experiencing troubles with thicker smog resulting from burning at the garbage dump. They also complained about their limited vision and respiratory problems.

Achmad said he was uncertain whether the city's sanitation agency was responsible for the burning, but suggested the agency should at the very least work to prevent the burning activity.

"The garbage dump is a closed area. It won't be difficult for city administration officials to prevent scavengers from burning the garbage," he said.

Scavengers

The head of the city sanitation agency, Saksono Hoesodo, said smoke from the burning trash was caused by scavengers who threw lit cigarettes in the garbage dump.

He said the cigarettes could easily set the 128-hectare garbage dump on fire and burn the garbage, as methane gas levels, generated from rotten trash, were extremely high.

"It's difficult to prohibit the scavengers from operating there. Meanwhile, dry weather could also trigger the garbage burning," he said.

He said the agency would move the garbage dump to Tangerang.

"In the future, the city will develop a new garbage dump in Ciangir subdistrict, Tangerang," he said.

Jakarta produces at least 23,000 cubic meters of trash every day, all of which is dumped at Bantar Gebang.

"Half of the trash could be dumped at Ciangir if its construction is completed in 2,003," he said.

Achmad called on city residents to help the city administration act on the garbage management problem.

"City residents should separate recycled garbage from non- recycled material," he said.

"The garbage dump should then only retain garbage which can't be recycled, such as food waste.

"Meanwhile, the recycled garbage could be sold to companies for recycling purposes."

He said Bantar Gebang had a capacity of 12,000 cubic meters of garbage per day, but that it currently received 20,000 to 30,000 cubic meters daily.

Head of garbage demolition at the garbage dump Prasodjo confirmed the volumes.

"Everyday 700 trucks release their garbage at the garbage dump, each of the trucks contains at least 20,000 cubic meters of garbage," he said, as quoted by Warta Kota daily on Sunday. (asa/jun)