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)