Life through the eyes of Bantar Gebang's scavengers
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Nirah wiped the sweat from her forehead, adjusted her head scarf and bent down once more, picking up plastic bags from the Bantar Gebang garbage dump in Bekasi. It has been three months since she came here from Karawang, West Java, leaving behind her two youngest children in the care of their elder sister.
"I came here with my husband and about 40 other people from my village because we couldn't farm anymore," said the 40-year-old woman. "It was so dry, we hardly had water to drink."
Working from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day amid mountains of trash has not dampened her spirits.
"At least I can get two or three liters of rice every day here," she said, smiling. "Sometimes we can send money home. But not in the last month, as we didn't make enough."
Nirah is one of hundreds of scavengers scraping out a living from the hills of trash in Bantar Gebang.
"We usually wait until we collect enough (garbage) before we start weighing," said Tarkiman, a father of 12 from Indramayu, West Java.
One kilogram of plastic mineral water bottles brings Rp 700 (8 US cents), while a kilogram of tin cans is worth Rp 300.
Tarkiman usually makes about Rp 40,000 for 15 days of work. "It's not much, but it's always there." He and his wife started working at Bantar Gebang seven years ago.
Bantar Gebang has been used since 1986 as a dump site for the 6,000 tons of garbage produced daily by Jakarta. The capital is now facing a waste crisis after the Bekasi administration decided to close the dump in 2004.
"I haven't heard that they're going to close it down," said Tarkiman, while several fellow scavengers looked at each other, confused. "When is it going to be shut down?" they asked.
"What will we do then?" asked Surtini, 30, a mother of three. "This is a difficult time. ..." she said. "Maybe I'll just go back to Indramayu, but I'd rather stay here."
"I don't agree with the closure of the site," said Elom, a local community leader. "Most people in the nearby villages of Ciketing Udik and Sumur Batu make their living from this place."
Another reason he believes the dump should remain open is "Jakarta's role in developing this area".
What development there has been here, from paving the roads and drilling artesian wells to building mosques, has been because of Jakarta, he said.
"Besides, where else will Jakarta dump its garbage?" he asked.
"I don't think they're serious about closing this down," said an employee at the management office near the gates of the dump. "It's just about money."
As for Nirah, she just continues to work.
"I haven't bought new clothes for my children for Idul Fitri," she said, closing her eyes.
"I hope I can bring some money home," she added, bending down once more to get a plastic bag.
'I'll dump the waste at the Palace': Truck driver
Delivering garbage from all over Jakarta to Bantar Gebang, about 25 kilometers from the Cawang interchange in East Jakarta, is far from pleasurable. First you get stuck in the capital's inevitable traffic jams, then there is the line inside the dump.
"We have to line up for three to four hours before we can dump the garbage," Tarmidin, a truck driver with PD Pasar Jaya, complained. "And the road here is so bad it wrecks my truck."
The road was muddy and overflowing with garbage when The Jakarta Post visited the dump early this week. Several trucks were moving at a snail's pace, wiggling their way along the curvy road, while dozens more waited for their turn to unload their garbage.
It takes longer now to unload trash from the trucks because the garbage is now in 15-meter-high hills, Tarmidin said.
"In the past, I would have finished my second round by now," he said at about 1 p.m. He used to be able to make three round- trips a day, but now has to work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. just to complete two trips.
"It's already too full here. They should just move the dump to another place," he said.
"Or maybe I'll just dump the garbage at the Palace," he grumbled. -- JP