Rubbish in Tambora Flats' Vertical Disposal Chute Clogs Up to Sixth Floor

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Rubbish in the vertical disposal chute or trash chute of the Tambora Flats, West Jakarta, has accumulated up to the sixth floor of the building on Tuesday. The build-up occurred due to delays in transporting rubbish to the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST). This has also hindered the removal of rubbish from the chute exit on the first floor. Observations at the site on Tuesday afternoon showed that the trash chute is integrated into the building from the first to the 16th floor. The vertical disposal channel has a corridor approximately 30x60 centimetres wide and functions to drop household waste from the 16th floor down to the ground level. Each floor has one trash chute door that can be opened and closed to drop waste into the disposal at the ground level. However, the rubbish collection area at the ground level appeared full and had not been collected due to limited availability of rubbish truck fleets. This condition has caused newly discarded rubbish from above to clog inside the channel and accumulate, particularly in the disposal channels of Towers B and C. In the disposal channel of Tower B, rubbish has been clogged for about a month, leading to accumulation up to the third floor of the flats. Meanwhile, the situation is worse in Tower C, where rubbish has piled up to the sixth floor. As a result, residents living on lower floors can no longer dispose of their rubbish through the shaft and must go down to carry their rubbish directly to the ground level. The manager of the Tambora Flats UPRS I, Gatot Nurferianto, confirmed the condition. According to him, the rubbish problem has not yet been resolved at the Tambora Flats. “We use the shaft room system, so residents drop it from above directly to the point below. So if it keeps piling up, it reaches higher up. It’s clogged; the rubbish can’t come out, and that’s the current condition,” said Gatot when met at the Tambora Flats on Tuesday. In all of Jakarta, he said, the Tambora Flats is the only tower area using the rubbish disposal system through a shaft channel, unlike other flats where residents must dispose of their own rubbish at the ground level. There are a total of three shaft disposal points available at the Tambora Flats. However, due to the increasingly uncontrollable rubbish accumulation, the flats’ management has temporarily closed two shaft points, leaving only three TPS areas currently operational. Previously, the West Jakarta Environment Office (Sudin LH) implemented a phased collection strategy in response to the 38 percent limitation on waste disposal quota to the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST). The Head of the West Jakarta Environment Office, Achmad Hariadi, said that phased collection means rubbish from five small-capacity transport units will be compacted into one large-capacity transport truck. “So the small trucks are not operated to Bantar Gebang, but the rubbish from those small trucks is compacted into a large truck to be transported to Bantar Gebang,” said Hariadi when contacted in Jakarta on Monday (30/3) night. According to Hariadi, the reduction in the West Jakarta waste disposal quota to Bantar Gebang from 308 to 190 trucks per day can be addressed with that strategy. “We send two trips. What used to be one trip becomes two trips. One trip with a large truck carries the usual load, and the other trip collects from several small trucks,” said Hariadi. Furthermore, his side prioritises tackling rubbish piles on protocol roads. “We handle the rubbish on protocol roads first, ensuring no accumulation. As for certain TPS, we manage them with the available vehicles,” he said.