Waste management solution
Waste management solution
As a consultant working for the government of Indonesia, the
World Bank, the ADB and bilateral agencies for the past 15 years
in Indonesia, I was staggered when I read the article entitled
City plans to use incinerators to handle waste in The Jakarta
Post, 20 Aug. 20.
The article announced that the Jakarta Administration (DKI)
see the future of waste management in incineration technology.
Everyone in the local government waste management business knows
that there is a long and twisted history of the use and failure
of this type of technology in this country.
It has always involved high capital investment, a failure to
understand the type of waste, a failure to recognize waste as a
resource, an inability to understand the pattern of incentives
working and more importantly a failure to recognize that there
are social and environmental reasons why local residents living
near such facilities eventually say enough is enough. If this is
not clear to DKI Jakarta officials just ask them about the Bojong
fiasco.
The government has just spent more than a million dollars
preparing a sustainable waste management solution for the
Jabodetabek region which involves three regional landfills
combined with community based programs to avoid, recycle and
reuse waste. This solution can be implemented for considerably
less than the more than US$100 million that will be required for
the "burn it-belch it" technology of yesteryear.
In order to adopt this sustainable approach, the issue of
waste management in the Jakarta region should be considered an
issue of national importance as there are now three provinces
involved and even the regional autonomy law dictates the use of
a regional partnership approach in such a situation. Only
concerted national level action can prevent another tragic waste
of taxpayer resources.
Non-sustainable or "quick fix" decisions about infrastructure
or technology solutions taken without a clear understanding of
broad scale outcomes, and the relationship to the system as a
whole, hampers our ability to achieve coordinated, integrated
solutions.
DOUGLAS MARTIN
Social and Environmental Consultant
Jakarta