Mobile Compost Carts Drive South Jakarta Towards Zero Waste

The waste problem in Jakarta is becoming increasingly urgent. Ahead of the policy to stop sending rubbish to the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Plant (TPST) starting 1 August 2026, residents in various areas are brainstorming ways to keep household waste under control and prevent it from piling up in their neighbourhoods. In South Jakarta, a number of community units (RW) are choosing not to remain idle in tackling the waste issue. Various innovations have emerged, ranging from mobile compost carts to a ‘bottle house’, as efforts to reduce waste volume at the source. Imam Basori, Head of RT 11/RW 07, Cilandak Barat Urban Village, said the innovation stemmed from a desire to solve the waste problem at its source, namely households. The innovation seeks to address the waste issue from the upstream level. Therefore, a proactive approach is taken to collect waste directly from households. If this can be resolved from upstream to downstream, then waste will not accumulate. Reduction starting from the home will decrease the volume of waste ending up in final disposal sites. Through the ‘mobile compost’ programme, officers travel around daily collecting organic waste, such as household kitchen scraps, from residents’ homes. In this system, household organic waste is processed using a small-capacity composting machine capable of converting kitchen waste into compost fertiliser within approximately six hours. After being studied and monitored, the household kitchen waste turns into compost within six hours. Once mixed with soil, the result can be reused by the community. If the waste volume increases, the RT management will use a larger capacity machine to ensure the processing remains fast. This larger machine is still in the manufacturing stage. It is hoped that the compost produced will later be reused for planting greenery in the residents’ environment. In fact, the RT management plans to hold an inter-house vegetable planting competition to further encourage the community to utilise the compost. In addition to processing organic waste, RT 11 has also developed a plastic bottle pressing machine called ‘smart geprek’. The machine was designed in-house using an actuator commonly found in chairs. Pressed plastic bottles have a higher economic value because they are denser, making storage and transportation easier. It is hoped that such management will realise the ‘zero waste’ target in the neighbourhood, while simultaneously changing the community’s perspective on rubbish. Moreover, the RT management is also liaising with scrap collectors and waste banks in the surrounding area so that the results of waste sorting can provide economic benefits for the community. Thus, residents will be more motivated to sort their waste if they know it has economic value. By understanding the economic value of waste, the community can be educated that rubbish can provide additional income. With the lure of economic value, the community can be mobilised. Currently, the ‘mobile compost’ cart has a capacity of about 2.5 cubic metres with a manufacturing cost of around Rp5 million. Meanwhile, the compost processing machine uses about 500 watts of electricity, while the supporting generator requires about 800 watts of power.