Recycling program provides tsunami survivors lifeline
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
Ridwan has been working since 8 a.m. He pays no heed to the flies and passing trucks. His deftly sorts out wood and iron from a pile of garbage reaching 10 meters high as a result of the tsunami. "The wood and iron will be stacked separately. Iron can be sold directly to add money to buy food," Ridwan told The Jakarta Post.
Ridwan is not alone. There are some 200 others eking out a living in the tsunami waste dump at Jawa village in Banda Aceh.
Most of them are tsunami survivors, but some come from distant regencies as each worker is being paid Rp 30,000 (US$3.30) per day by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The UNDP program aims to reduce the volume of tsunami waste which has reached a staggering 300,000 cubic meters.
Ridwan, himself a refugee, returns home at night to the barracks for displaced persons. His family survived the tsunami, but he lost all his woodworking tools he depended on to support his family.
Earning a living sorting garbage is tough work. Ridwan and the other workers have to be extra careful to avoid being injured by broken glass and rusty nails.
They have been provided with boots and gloves by the UNDP, but due to handling many sharp objects, their gloves were quickly damaged. They now work using their bare hands. To expedite their work, heavy machinery like tractors, have been deployed. They sometimes find interesting things in the debris.
"We often stumble upon money or gold. We usually divide it equally among ourselves if the amount is big," said Muhammad, 23, a fellow worker.
The biggest amount of money they had ever found was Rp 10 million. The notes, all soaked, were covered in mud and garbage. They had to be separated carefully.
However, they sometimes discover skulls and skeletons. After finding human remains, they immediately bury them in a proper manner not far from the place of work.
Since the tsunami, waste has become a serious problem in Aceh. There are 1,000 garbage trucks, but only in Banda Aceh. Due to the emergency situation then, debris from the tsunami was disposed of in various areas without proper foresight, such as in rivers and rice fields, including in Jawa village. With the implementation of the UNDP project, a large part of the garbage will be recycled, such as wood for firewood, or debris to be used as wave breakers in coastal areas.
"The program which started on April 11 will be carried out for three months," said UNDP program assistant Muhammad Zaki on waste recycling matters.
UNDP will coordinate directly with the Banda Aceh Sanitation and Parks Office in the program.
Zaki acknowledged that he did not know when the total garbage would be cleaned and sorted. "The main thing is that people's land and plantations can be used again," he said.
As the program is transitional in nature, the workers have stated their worries. "We hope to be provided with tools, so that we can live independently after the program ends," said Ridwan.