Government Stresses Waste Problem Must Be Resolved at Source

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan has stated that Indonesia’s waste problem must be resolved at its source, or upstream level, in the future. He said the waste issue is already an emergency and requires serious handling from the entire community. Zulkifli made the remarks while attending the declaration of the ‘Pilah Sampah Bersama dari Rumah’ (Sorting Waste Together from Home) action in Bandung on Friday (24/7). The PAN politician said he had been tasked by President Prabowo Subianto with resolving the waste problem within the next two years. He noted that the volume of waste in the Greater Bandung area reaches nearly 2,000 tonnes per day. Therefore, precise and serious steps are needed to tackle the waste problem, one of which is resolving it from the upstream level. The waste handling pattern must be completely changed by ensuring waste is resolved at its respective location. ‘For example, in this office, waste must be resolved here. It must. On campus, waste must be resolved on campus. If there is a shopping centre, waste must be resolved at the shopping centre. Waste must be resolved at schools. If there is a market, it must be resolved at the market. And restaurants must resolve waste at the restaurant. We can no longer be irresponsible, throwing our waste away, putting it in a truck, and taking it to an open dump; that will never be resolved.’ He added that sorting household waste into organic and inorganic types is the main key before the waste is transported or processed further. Inorganic waste has economic value because it can be recycled, while organic waste can be processed into fertiliser. Zulkifli acknowledged that the waste problem is not only occurring in Greater Bandung but also in other regions. ‘It has entered the emergency category. This emergency is not only in Greater Bandung, Jakarta, and South Tangerang; nearly sixty cities are in a state of emergency. This causes extraordinary problems,’ he said. He believes waste can bring positive value if managed properly, such as being converted into electrical energy. Over the past eleven years, the licensing process for waste-to-energy projects has been very complicated and convoluted due to excessive bureaucracy. Under the President’s direct instruction, these regulatory obstacles are now being cut and simplified. This acceleration effort targets the completion of handling in emergency zones within a maximum of two years, specifically to stop open dumping practices that violate the law and can result in criminal sanctions for local governments. However, he assessed that this emergency waste management programme through the waste-to-energy scheme only covers about 22.5 percent of the total national waste volume. ‘The rest is our shared homework that must be resolved through appropriate technology, such as micro-scale processing tools developed by BRIN and domestic universities,’ he stressed.