'Streets will be dirty and smell bad'

'Streets will be dirty and smell bad'

The 17-year-old agreement between Jakarta and Bekasi on the use
of the Bantar Gebang dump will end on Dec. 31. An environmental
expert has called on the Jakarta and Bekasi administrations to
find a solution to avoid a possible garbage crisis in the capital
in the near future. The Jakarta Post talked to some residents on
the issue.

Mick Powell, 50, is an Australian who has been living in
Indonesia for 13 years. He lives on Jl. Fatmawati, South Jakarta,
with his wife:

High technology is needed to treat waste, moreover Jakarta
produces thousands of tons of garbage every day. Maybe the city
administration does not consider waste as a lucrative business
and therefore no one has been interested in investing in the
waste business.

Burning the garbage is not the best way out. I suggest that
low technology be used to treat waste as it is environmentally
friendly.

The administration must empower scavengers and poor people to
make money from garbage. Scavengers help collect and sort the
organic waste from the non-organic waste. While the poor people
can be accommodated by the recycling industry that uses waste as
its raw materials. For instance, organic waste can be turned into
fertilizer.

I'm sure by providing this sort of industry, it will be a
source of income for the poor people, scavengers and the
administration itself.

It won't be easy. It will take time to get residents to
separate their garbage. I'm sad to see that people here are
careless in treating their waste.

Kris, 32, is an employee with an international organization in
South Jakarta. He lives in Setiabudi, South Jakarta:

Garbage is a very crucial problem that needs immediate
handling from the city administration.

Governor Sutiyoso must think about the most effective way to
treat waste effectively.

Perhaps, it is a good idea for the City Sanitation Agency to
empower scavengers or evicted squatters who are willing to treat
waste.

This would be a blessing in disguise for the poor people as it
will improve their welfare.

Suminah, not her real name, 50, is a street sweeper in West
Jakarta. She lives in Kemanggisan, West Jakarta, with her husband
and five children:

I have no idea on how to solve the waste problem. I only know
that I sweep and clean the garbage from the streets and the
trucks take it away.

I can't imagine what will happen if one day the waste cannot
be taken to the dump. All the streets will be dirty and smell bad
and I will have to sweep them all day long. Maybe I will have to
work harder so that my supervisor cannot blame me for the
mounting waste.

I think it's impossible for residents to stop or reduce
producing household waste, right?

-- Leo Wahyudi S.