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)