More composting needed in city's waste disposal

More composting needed in city's waste disposal

JAKARTA (JP): The disposal of the city's garbage would be more
efficient if more groups were involved in composting, an official
said.

The head of the Greater Jakarta Area Development Board, Anjat
Lamey, said the constant problem of the lack of trucks and final
disposal sites is due to a reliance on an outdated method used
for more than 20 years and a lack of proper investment.

"The question of the lack of investment applies if we are
talking about the old methods, mainly the transporting of garbage
from homes to the final disposal site," Anjat told The Jakarta
Post yesterday.

In Jakarta the sanitation agency can collect slightly more
than 21,000 cubic meters of garbage per day compared to the
25,000 cubic meters produced by more than the nine million
population. The other 4,000 cubic meters are left untransported,
and some drift into city waterways.

Anjat was responding to observations revealed in a recent
seminar on public infrastructure at the Ministry of Public Works.

Speakers at the seminar said Jakarta is no longer efficient
when comparing congestion, pollution and the high cost of living
to the public's expectations of services.

They said more investment from the private sector to build and
manage infrastructure is one way out of the problems.

During the seminar, an analyst from the Ministry of Finance,
Susiyati B. Hirawan showed investment needs in garbage management
for the country's cities exceed Rp 2 billion. Meanwhile only 49.1
percent or Rp 1 billion is available by 1999, she said.

Urban observers also say cooperation between neighboring
cities will be increasingly crucial, including the joint
management of garbage.

Anjat said greater participation in composting, not
investment, is the most important issue regarding garbage
disposal in the city.

This would reduce the volume of garbage which needs to be
transported to disposal sites, he said.

"The modern technology of sorting out organic and inorganic
waste, and processing vegetable waste into compost, is relatively
cheap," Anjat said.

Compost is a humus-rich fertilizer processed from yard waste,
fruit and vegetable remains and other organic material.

"The question remains as to whether banks would provide credit
to cooperatives and small companies who may be interested in the
business," Anjat said.

So far very few residential groups process compost. These
include residents working with a non-governmental organization
(NGO) in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, and another group in Luar
Batang, North Jakarta.

The latter involves a team of residents assisted by PT Spectra
Matrik Indah, and an NGO working with the municipality and the
federal government of Germany.

The fertilizers are sold to plant traders in Jakarta and
Bekasi.

Anjat could not estimate how much could be saved in garbage
management costs in the Greater Jakarta area if more of its 15
million residents made compost.

And he confirmed less conflict would occur if fewer final
disposal areas were needed.

The Tangerang regency, for instance, has faced protests from
residents near one of its garbage disposal sites in the Serpong
district. The residents have objected to the further use of the
plot for dumping garbage. (anr)