Indonesia plans legislation against waste imports

Indonesia plans legislation against waste imports

JAKARTA (JP): The government is currently drafting a
legislation to bar any trade of toxic and hazardous waste within
its waters.

The move tallies with the new version of the Basel Convention
on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes,
which was upgraded in Geneva last month, State Minister of
Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja told reporters yesterday.

The drafters are now studying the most effective way to
dealing with violations of the conventions, including the kind of
sanctions that should be meted out, Sarwono said.

Indonesia has already barred imports of plastic wastes and
most kind of hazardous waste since 1992, but because it is only
ruled by a decree by the trade minister, enforcement is lacking.

Some forms of toxic waste, including used batteries, remain
legal to fuel a domestic recycling industry. Even these are
supposed to be phased out completely by the Basel Convention's
Dec. 31, 1997 deadline, he said.

The government has also been left with 99 containers filled
with imported plastic waste and hazardous materials which have
been confiscated since the ban, not knowing what to do with them
because their countries of origins have refused to take them
back. The importers have also not been punished in the absence of
legislation that covers their offense.

The Basel Convention rules that trade of all kinds of
hazardous waste must cease as of Jan. 1, 1998.

Indonesian environmentalists are skeptical about the
effectiveness of the convention, given that most industrialized
countries, led by the United States, have not signed the pact.

But Sarwono promised that the government means business.

The Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) will
cooperate with the Customs office to prevent the illegal import
of waste, he said.

Bapedal officials blamed the lax customs laws for the
continuing violations of the 1992 ban on toxic waste imports.

Sarwono said importers have abused the facility granted by the
Customs Agency, which lets containers with values of less than
$5,000 uninspected.

Abuse

"Many parties have abused this exemption by faking the
manifest. The containers contain hazardous and non-hazardous
wastes while the manifest says they contain small articles,"
Sarwono said.

Bapedal also plans a mechanism to encourage members of the
public to notify the authorities of any incoming shipment with
hazardous waste to Indonesia.

It will also arrange cooperation with police and government
agencies to counter such shipments.

To cope with the hazardous waste produced in this country,
the government has licensed private companies to build waste
recycling centers close to industrial areas.

The first such plant in Cileungsi, Bogor, started operating in
January, Sarwono said, adding that dozens of industries are
already sending their waste there.

The Cileungsi plant has processed 2,687 tons of waste since it
began.

Feasibility studies are now being carried out for setting
similar plants in Gresik (East Java), Lhok Seumawe (Aceh), and
Semboja (East Kalimantan).

Sarwono alleged that waste trade business is organized by
international syndicates and that citizens in developing
countries are paid $22 for each kilogram of waste imported.

The industrialized countries continue to export their waste to
developing countries because they found it is the cheapest way to
solve their environmental problems.

"The U.S. can only build 1,000 final dumps from the 8,000
suggested while Germany cannot afford DM 300 billion to cope with
the waste." (prs)