Festivities leave mountain of waste

Festivities leave mountain of waste

JAKARTA (JP): During the week-long holiday for Christmas, Idul
Fitri and New Year, the city produced 21,940 cubic meters of
garbage, an official said on Tuesday.

Head of the city's Control Center for Garbage Treatment Joko
Suratno said most of the waste included the remains of
firecrackers exploded in streets and other public areas.

Among the most polluted areas in the city were the National
Monument grounds and the area surrounding the fountain at the
traffic circle in front of Hotel Indonesia stretching along the
Jl. Thamrin main thoroughfare in Central Jakarta.

Other areas where people left large amounts of litter were the
Ancol recreation park in North Jakarta and Indonesia Miniature
Park (TMII) in East Jakarta, which were packed with Jakartans
celebrating events held at both locations.

"It's rather difficult to handle the waste from firecrackers,
because it glued to the asphalt of the road after the rain," Joko
said, adding that the crowds which occupied the streets until
dawn also hindered the sweeping.

Joko said his agency deployed at least 15,000 workers with an
average of 300 trucks to remove the waste. They began the
sweeping about 3 a.m. and finished at 6:00 a.m. (07)