Idul Fitri leaves 12,500 cubic meters of rubbish

Idul Fitri leaves 12,500 cubic meters of rubbish

JAKARTA (JP): Jakartans may have produced more than 12,500 cubic meters of garbage during the Idul Fitri holidays, but the amount of refuse was still 2,500 cubic meters less than the City Sanitation Agency expected.

Agency head M. Subasir said yesterday that the garbage was collected from main streets, mosques as well as tourism sites from Feb. 19 to 21.

Subasir said that his employees collected 5,300 cubic meters of garbage on Feb. 19, 3,900 cubic meters on Feb.20 and 3,300 cubic meter on the last day.

On an average day, Jakartans usually produce 25,400 cubic meters of garbage every day.

City officials attributed the lower than expected garbage total to rain over the holidays, which forced many at mosques to use newspapers instead of prayer mats.

"The garbage was mostly newspapers, fruit and coconut leaves used to wrap rice cakes," he said.

"This year we fielded 700 garbage trucks and 3,103 workers to collect the garbage and transport it to the dump sites," he said, adding that the final dump site is in Pulogebang, Bekasi, some 30 km east of Jakarta

He said 1,500 additional workers came from private companies contracted by the agency, which normally fields 1,300 to clean garbage from the city on a normal day.

Those working during the holidays received special compensation of between Rp 2,000 (US 93 cents) and Rp 5,000 per day. "They deserved the small money for their being alert for 24 hours," he said.

Subasir said 700 garbage trucks were used to collect Idul Fitri garbage while only 29 were left to collect garbage in the city's residential areas and markets. As a result, he said, trash in a number of places, including the Palmerah market in Central Jakarta, has not been picked up for days.

Subasir said his office can handle up to 85 percent of the 25,400 cubic meters of garbage normally thrown out each day. "The other 4000 cubic meters are left untransported." (yns)