Govt announces names of worst river polluters
Govt announces names of worst river polluters
JAKARTA (JP): Two plywood producers, two paper mills and a paint factory were named the worst river polluters by the government yesterday.
The Environmental Management Impact Agency (Bapedal), the government's environmental watchdog, disclosed yesterday the results of its survey of 213 companies which discharge waste into rivers. They rated them according to their performance in living up to their environmental responsibilities.
Five of the surveyed companies got black ratings for being the worst polluters. The black listed companies are PT Raja Garuda Mas Panel, a plywood producer in Riau; PT Tirta Mahakam Plywood Industry in East Kalimantan; PT Papyrus Sakti Paper Mill, a paper and pulp producer in West Java; PT Sari Morawa, a paper factory in North Sumatra; and PT Sico, a paint factory in North Sumatra.
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who also chairs Bapedal, announced the findings to the media yesterday.
While he made no mention of any planned action against the companies, Sarwono said Bapedal is ready to assist people affected by the pollution to initiate legal action against the five offenders.
Sarwono said his officers are ready to testify as expert witnesses for the plaintiffs.
Executives of the five companies were not available to comment on Sarwono's promise.
This is the first time the government has revealed the names of the country's worst industrial polluters. Last June, when Bapedal disclosed the results of its first study, then covering 187 companies, it only named the five best performers.
None of the 213 companies surveyed won the gold category, reserved for companies that have zero pollution. After gold comes green, then blue, red and black.
Five companies were named in the green category. They are PT Coca Cola Pan Java in North Sumatra; PT Kalhold Utama, a plywood company in East Kalimantan; PT Pindad, the state-owned arms manufacturer in West Java, PT Petrokimia Nusantara Interindo and PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Corporation in Tangerang, West Java.
Eighty-eight companies were rated blue and 115 were rated red.
Sarwono concluded that in the majority of cases, company owners, not the management, hold the key to how the company lives up to its environmental responsibilities.
He compared Raja Garuda Mas, which is a subsidiary of a business group by the same name, with PT Inti Indorayon Utama, a huge pulp and paper factory in North Sumatra. Indorayon got a blue rating because of the willingness of its owners.
"This goes to show that business group owners must lead their companies into environmental standard compliance," he said. "Our business culture shows strong dependence on owners rather than on management."
Inti Indorayon Utama was the target of public rage when a gas pipe exploded at its plant late in 1993. It had also been blasted for excessive logging and pollution. It volunteered to undergo environmental auditing last June.
The Proper Prokasih, or the program for pollution control evaluation and rating, evaluates the quality of waste water of a factory discharged to rivers. The rating does not include discharge into the air.
Sarwono said the rating system will be expanded to include all hazardous pollutants.
Bapedal Deputy for Pollution Supervision Nabiel Makarim said that compared with the first survey six months ago there has been an improvement in the way companies control their waste.
Sarwono picked out PT Indobharat Rayon, a textile company in Purwakarta, West Java, which he described as having made "dramatic progress". It move from black to blue within six months.
PT Cheil Samsung Astra, a Korean joint venture producing food seasoning in East Java, was dropped from the recent study because Bapedal decided to undertake a new study following allegations last month that the company was polluting the river.
Cheil Samsung, which was one of the five companies rated green in June, was the target of an angry protest by shrimp farmers who claimed that its waste was killing the river.
Sarwono yesterday maintained that there was no problem with Cheil Samsung's waste as far as Bapedal was concerned.
The rating system and the biyearly public disclosure is expected to motivate companies to perform better, sparing the government, at least at this stage, from having to go through complex and lengthy legal actions.
Once the climate of compliance is better, there is more hope for law enforcement, Sarwono said.
He added that with Bapedal's database, law enforcement agencies should feel more confident in bringing suspects to trial. (anr)