Jakarta's trash problem, solution

Jakarta's trash problem, solution

It seems to me that the city's garbage and waste disposal
problem has reached threatening proportions. It is appalling that
the City Administration stubbornly still sits in a cave and is
pushing for incinerators to burn garbage at a huge investment
cost of US$101 million each -- in re: Damar Harsanto's article in
The Jakarta Post on Aug. 20 entitled City plans to use
incinerators to handle waste.

Tusy A. Adibroto, BPPT researcher has rightly sounded the
alarm! Up to this point, traditional methods of treating organic
waste has not been carried out in a cost-effective manner and the
waste contains high quantities of contaminants. Incineration will
create residue problems, air pollution, destruction of nutrients,
concentration of heavy metals and odor emissions.

Today, there are high-technology solutions in the world;
patented conversion processes with the ability to continually
(24-hour operation) and successfully process biodegradable waste
materials with up to 10 percent non-biodegradables mixed in. The
resulting product is a clean, organic, pathogen-free fertilizer
concentrate! Even byproducts such as methane gas and pure potable
drinking water can be free! Hospital wastes are also processed
safely and hygienically; no odors, no toxic effluents.

Solid inorganic waste after screening is recycled as usual!
All this can be done in capacity modules of up to 1,000 tons/day
at a cost of US$17 million, which is less than 20 percent per
plant than what the incinerators will destructively do. The added
cost of incinerators being energy to burn huge capacities? There
is no added value from incineration.

Current waste disposal options have their limitations and
their own environmental problems.

So, why not convert waste from a problem to a resource quickly
now!

SAM S. DANIELS, Managing Consultant Indonesia, PT. GCK., Jakarta.