Micro-entrepreneurs put in jail for littering

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

The Cibinong District Court sentenced on Thursday eight owners of lead-battery recycling shops to five months in jail each for polluting the environment, and ordered them to comply with regulations if they wanted to resume their business.

"This court has handed down a sentence more lenient than that demanded by the prosecutors, because the defendants have little knowledge that such a business could be hazardous to the environment as well as the people's health, and that they must obtain approval from the Bogor environment office to run the business," Presiding Judge Marsudin Nainggolan told the courtroom.

Earlier on Wednesday, prosecutor Jamil Zaini had proposed a six-month jail term for each of them.

Nurhasan Sahibudin, Awang Nasuhi, Dadang Eon, Parjo Asingan, Ondi Toing, Jaya Emad, Herman and Ulung had started the battery- recycling home businesses in 1992 in Cinangka village, Ciampea, Bogor.

They recycled the lead foil lining the inside of the batteries into blocks of lead, each weighing about 30 kilograms. The market price for each kilogram of lead is about Rp 2,000.

The Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) nevertheless said the legal system was discriminative, in that tycoons and mega-corporations with factories allegedly dumping waste were left free to pollute the environment -- with far more damaging consequences than a home-recycling shop.