Rawa Kucing residents complain Indah Kiat's waste
Rawa Kucing residents complain Indah Kiat's waste
Multa Fidrus
The Jakarta Post
Tangerang
Residents who live close to the Rawa Kucing dumping site in
the Neglasari subdistrict of Tangerang expressed serious concern
on Thursday about the effects of polluted air from the solid
waste being disposed there by the Tangerang regency's sanitation
agency.
"The waste, which produces such a bad smell, really disturbs
us -- we've had to inhale household waste every day, and now we
are facing even worse smells which could cause disease,"
Achmadi, a local resident, told The Jakarta Post.
Achmadi added that the municipal administration needed to take
stern measures against a factory that dumped the waste at the
site.
"If nothing is done, the factory will continue dumping waste
there, and residents will suffer from respiratory disease from
inhaling the polluted air," he said.
According to an official of the Tangerang municipality's
sanitation agency, the waste left there belonged to PT Indah
Kiat, a pulp and paper producing company on Jl. Raya Serpong
kilometer 8, Tangerang.
"We have received reports from the municipal irrigation agency
which said that they had caught an agency truck disposing of
solid waste belonging to PT Indah Kiat on Feb. 3," said the
official, speaking on anonymity.
Chudori, an official at the regency sanitation agency,
confirmed that his agency's satlak (executive unit) had disposed
PT Indah Kiat's factory waste at Rawa Kucing, saying that only
household waste was allowed to be disposed at the dumping site.
He said that the Rawa Kucing dumping site belonged to the
municipal administration, so there was no regency sanitation's
garbage truck could dispose wastes there.
Meanwhile, Hardjono, an official the municipal environment
agency office, said that his office had yet to receive reports
about factory waste at the disposal, so that the agency could not
take stern measure against the company and regency sanitation's
executive unit.
"If you want to know more about the matter, please go and ask
the municipal public work agency," Hardjono, who is also chairman
of Tangerang environmental law enforcement team told the Post.
In a separate incident, PT Indah Kiat spokesman Luffy
Prakuncoro denied that the company was disposing of solid waste
at Rawa Kucing dumping site.
"It's not true, because we do not dispose factory waste," he
told the Post by phone.
He added that, in handling the factory's 20 tons of waste
produced daily, the company had cooperated with the Tangerang
regency sanitation's satlak, which should recycle the
waste into fertilizer, in accordance with agreement with PT Indah
Kiat.