'I'll dump the waste at the Palace': Truck driver

Delivering garbage from all over Jakarta to Bantar Gebang, about 25 kilometers from the Cawang interchange in East Jakarta, is far from pleasurable. First you get stuck in the capital's inevitable traffic jams, then there is the line inside the dump.

"We have to line up for three to four hours before we can dump the garbage," Tarmidin, a truck driver with PD Pasar Jaya, complained. "And the road here is so bad it wrecks my truck."

The road was muddy and overflowing with garbage when The Jakarta Post visited the dump early this week. Several trucks were moving at a snail's pace, wiggling their way along the curvy road, while dozens more waited for their turn to unload their garbage.

It takes longer now to unload trash from the trucks because the garbage is now in 15-meter-high hills, Tarmidin said.

"In the past, I would have finished my second round by now," he said at about 1 p.m. He used to be able to make three round- trips a day, but now has to work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. just to complete two trips.

"It's already too full here. They should just move the dump to another place," he said.

"Or maybe I'll just dump the garbage at the Palace," he grumbled. -- JP