JP/8/EARTH

JP/8/EARTH

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The nationwide Green Consumers Movement will, this Monday,
highlight the 32nd World Earth Day, which falls on April 22, the
campaign for which focuses on reducing waste problems rampant in
the country.

Initiated by the Indonesian Green Consumers Foundation
(Lemkohi), the campaign focuses on Jakarta, as the capital faces
the worst consequences of waste problems, where residents will be
educated to manage their own household waste.

"If we succeed in Jakarta, the campaign will target other
regions, and, hopefully, the government will adopt the green
consumer movement as its policy," Lemkohi chairman Syafei
Kadarusman told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The two-month campaign will be used to publicize the use of
"compostor barrels" in each household at 50 subdistricts in the
capital. The barrel helps residents to change household organic
waste into more useful compost.

The campaign is expected to end on June 5, in time for World
Environment Day.

Jakarta was recently hit by floods and potentially fatal
diseases caused by waste. Jakarta's 9.2 million residents produce
an estimated 6,000 tonnes of waste daily, 65 percent of which is
categorized as organic.

Syafei expected the campaign would recycle 40 percent of the
organic waste.

"Almost all diseases, which include the postflood lethal
disease leptospirosis, are caused by uncontrolled organic waste,"
Syafei said.

He added that the government's policy in providing separate
trash cans for organic and nonorganic waste in public places was
not working, as people still did not separate their garbage.

Earth Day observance originated from the concern of U.S.
senator Gaylord Nelson about the decrease in environmental
quality. His speech in 1969 in Seattle, urging the inclusion of
controversial issues on the environment in the university
curriculum, moved the grass roots to pay more heed to the issue.

As part of the movement, dozens of environmentalists
participated when the Coalition of Indonesian Environment Lovers
staged a peaceful demonstration on Sunday at the entrance to the
National Monument park in Central Jakarta.

The activists urged the administration to formulate a clear
program for joint waste management that promoted resident
participation, rather than simply pocketing fees for waste
management without offering any solutions.