Having garbage problems? Ask cows for help

Having garbage problems? Ask cows for help

Ridlo Aryanto, Contributor, Yogyakarta

While big cities like Jakarta and Surabaya find it difficult
to deal with their garbage, Yogyakarta lets cows solve the
problem.

The Yogyakarta municipality, in cooperation with Bantul and
Sleman regencies, has just built a final dumping site (LPA) on a
12.5-hectare plot of land in Arjowinangun village in the Piyungan
district of Bantul.

The construction of the site, according to the head of
Yogyakarta's sanitation services office, Sutejo, was only
finalised in August 2000 to accommodate an increased volume of
garbage. "The new dumping site in Piyungan is much larger and
can accommodate some 1,500 cubic meters of garbage coming from
Bantul, Sleman and Yogyakarta," he said.

It is estimated that Yogyakarta's more than 1.5 million
residents generate some 1,500 cubic meters of garbage per day.
"Of this volume, some 850 cubic meters are managed by the
administration while the rest is managed by community members in
local dumping sites, including those thrown into nearby rivers,
something which still has to be brought under control," Sutejo
said.

In the three cities -- Bantul, Sleman and Yogyakarta -- 35
garbage trucks daily carry some 1,500 cubic meters of waste from
residential areas and public facilities like markets and shopping
areas. Of this total, 850 cubic meters are from Yogyakarta
residents, 400 cubic meters from Sleman and 250 cubic meters from
Bantul.

So, how can this new 12.5-hectare dump site accommodate the
1,500 cubic meters of garbage that arrive each day?

Apart from the usual technique of burning garbage and the
recycling of paper and plastic waste carried out by around 250
scavengers, some 350 cows help solve the problem by eating the
garbage.

"The price of grass is high and moreover, it's hard to find.
That's why we cowherds in this city choose to take our cows here
to survive," said Tardi, an Arjowinangun resident who tends to
his five cows every day in the Piyungan dumping site.

Usually, cowherds have to sell their cows to provide enough
money to buy grass. For instance, if a cowherd has three cows, he
has to sell one of them to buy grass to feed the remaining two.

"The price of a cubic meter of grass now stands at Rp 200,000
and three cows will eat it up in a week. If I did that I'd be
broke in no time," said Tardi, a father of three.

The free feed also comes with a change in the cows' behavior.
Cows are known as herbivores, but for the last two years, cows in
the Piyungan dumping site have turned into omnivores.

"Since bringing our cows here, they have been getting fatter
since they eat not only the remains of cabbages or water
spinaches but also the remains of goat satays from Samirono (one
of the biggest restaurants in Yogyakarta)," Tardi said.

According to the dumping site supervisor, Sutjipto, the cows
would only stop eating when they chewed the cud. "Don't be
surprised if more than half of the garbage dumped into this
dumping site can be eaten by the cows from morning until
afternoon," he said.

Gadjah Mada University's professor of animal husbandry, Zaenal
Bachrudin, said there were further advantages to the process. He
said that Rumen bacteria in the cows' excrement could help the
garbage's decomposition into peat, thus supporting the soil's
fertility.

When the garbage had turned into thousands of cubic meters of
peat, it might open up business opportunities, he added. "I think
the Yogyakarta administration should consider adding a business
unit to sell garbage from this dumping site without having to
build a factory to do the same process," said the dean of the
university's school of animal husbandry.

If the project were successful, he said, it could become a
model for other administrations in dealing with their garbage.