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)