Lack of Waste Collection Points Causes Rubbish Build-up in Angke Flats

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The West Jakarta Environmental Office (Sudin LH) has stated that one cause of the rubbish problem in the Rusunawa Angke area, Tambora, is the habit of nearby residents also disposing of their waste in the temporary collection point (TPS) of the flats area.

“Residents don’t have their own TPS. So, they also throw away into there, thus adding to the volume of rubbish in the TPS of the block area,” said the Head of Sudin LH West Jakarta, Achmad Hariadi, when contacted in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Hariadi said that his side had transported 35 tonnes some time ago after the rubbish pile-up in the area went viral on social media.

They deployed two large-capacity trucks, one small truck, and two compactor trucks to transport the rubbish from the area.

“We have carried out the transportation. Yes, 20 tonnes first batch plus 15 tonnes second batch, so there are 35 tonnes,” Hariadi said.

Meanwhile, the Manager of Rusunawa Angke, Gatot, confirmed that many residents from the villages next to the flats also dispose of their rubbish in the TPS inside the flats.

“The rubbish from Rusunawa is not just from the Rusunawa residents themselves. It comes from outside residents too. Even without road access, they can throw it from outside, just throwing it in. Some carry it and place it in the TPS, that’s the cat-and-mouse game, hard to control,” Gatot explained.

Gatot also hopes that the Environmental Office can soon realise the addition of drivers and waste transport fleets.

In addition, he urged residents’ awareness to sort and properly dispose of rubbish in the designated places to avoid worsening the build-up.

“We really hope that residents become aware of sorting related to cleanliness. Because now there are still many residents who are not self-aware, they place their rubbish on the emergency stairs, on the closed shaft doors because they don’t want to bother going down, they need to be more aware,” Gatot added.

Besides the habit of village area residents dumping rubbish into the flats area’s TPS, the quota restriction on waste disposal to the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST) is also a main factor in the rubbish problem at Rusunawa Angke.

West Jakarta previously had a quota of 308 waste transport trucks to TPST Bantar Gebang every day. Now, the area can only send 190 trucks.

The restriction also directly impacts the transportation of rubbish from the Rusunawa Angke area. This has led to rubbish piling up in the vertical drainage channels of the flats (shaft) up to the sixth floor of one of the buildings.

Observations at the location on Tuesday afternoon showed that the shaft or trash chute is integrated with the building from the first to the 16th floor.

The vertical drainage channel has a corridor about 30x60 centimetres wide and functions as a household waste route from the 16th floor to the ground floor.

Each floor has one trash chute door that can be opened and closed to drop rubbish into the disposal on the ground floor.

However, the rubbish collection area on the ground floor appears to be full and has not been collected due to limited waste truck fleets.

This condition causes newly discarded rubbish from above to get stuck in the channel and pile up, especially in the discharge channels of Towers B and C.

In the discharge shaft area of Tower B, rubbish has been stuck for about a month and ended up piling up to the third floor of the flats.

Meanwhile, a worse condition occurred in Tower C where the rubbish has piled up to the sixth floor.

As a result, residents living on the lower floors can no longer dispose of their rubbish through the shaft and must go down carrying their rubbish directly to the ground floor.