Jakarta administration mulls cows to eat waste
Jakarta administration mulls cows to eat waste
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso hinted on Thursday about a
plan to use cows at garbage dumps to help reduce the waste
problems in the capital.
"I think using cows to eat up the garbage will be an advantage
for the city because the system will help reduce our waste
problems and at the same time feed the cows," Sutiyoso told
journalists on Thursday.
He said that he got the idea after a meeting on Wednesday with
people from Surakarta in Central Java, who told him that cows
could eat garbage. The Surakarta administration had applied the
system in the past couple of months.
"I heard that the cows eat the garbage but leave the plastic
waste for the scavengers to collect.
"Probably, we can place these cows at certain garbage dumps in
the capital," Sutiyoso said during his visit to the Karang Anyar
subdistrict in Central Jakarta.
"They (Surakarta administration) have around 1,000 cows to do
the job and we may need that many cows, too," he added.
Sutiyoso even ordered the City Sanitation Agency Chief Saksono
Soehodo to depart for Surakarta to learn how the local
administration used the cows.
"If necessary, we'll buy all of their cows as these cows are
accustomed to eating waste.
"If we use new cows here, they may get sick because of the
garbage," he said.
Garbage has become one of the city's major problems as the
capital currently produces 60,000 tons of garbage per day, some
65 percent of which is in the form of organic waste that could be
used to produce compost.
Bantar Gebang, the city's only dump site, is located
approximately 40 kilometers east of the capital. The city
administration initially planned to close down the dump and build
a new one in Tangerang, following regular complaints from local
residents about the bad odor in the vicinity of the dump.
Bantar Gebang, which has the capacity to handle some 12,000
cubic meters of garbage per day, currently receives 20,000 to
30,000 cubic meters per day. The local administration plans to
establish a new dump site in Tangerang in 2003.
"By using cows, we can even eat their meat during special
festivities. If the cows fatten, we can distribute the meat to
local residents," Sutiyoso said jokingly.
"The first man that should eat the meat is the city sanitation
officer, so we can find out whether the meat is poisonous or
not," he added, laughing.
The City Sanitation Agency Chief Saksono Soehodo said the cows
could be placed at certain larger garbage dumps in the capital.
"Of course, I have not come up with an idea about the
mechanism yet as the governor just mentioned it today. I need to
have more details. But I do think it is feasible," Saksono told
journalists later on Thursday. (dja)