Rubbish Piles Litter Cirebon Roads, Regency Government Promotes Village-Based Management

The Cirebon Regency government is beginning to shift its waste management strategy from a collection-and-disposal pattern to village-based independent management. This step was taken following the high daily volume of waste accumulation, which reaches 1,261 tonnes.

Head of the Cirebon Regency Environmental Agency (DLH), Dede Sudiono, stated that currently only around 389 tonnes of the daily waste volume is being handled. “Automatically, out of 1,261 tonnes, there are 872 tonnes of waste still scattered among us. So do not be surprised if there is still a lot of rubbish on the roadsides,” Dede said.

Dede stressed that the paradigm of waste management must change completely in the future. The existing landfill (TPA) is targeted to be transformed into an Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST), where waste is sorted and processed so that only the final residue is disposed of.

Head of the Regional Development Planning, Research and Innovation Agency (Bapperida) of Cirebon Regency, Dangi, revealed that dependence on adding more rubbish trucks is not the main solution. He assessed that the “collect-and-dispose” orientation only turns the government into a waste transportation business, not a waste processor. “If the orientation is only collection and disposal, we just become a waste transport business. What is needed is for waste to be completely handled at the village level,” Dangi asserted.