Waste to be sent back to the Netherlands
Waste to be sent back to the Netherlands
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will soon return 20 containers of hazardous waste
to the Netherlands that are now in storage in the international
container terminal at Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta.
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said on
Monday that the Netherlands government had expressed its
readiness to take back the hazardous waste, which had been sent
from Amsterdam last month.
"In principle, the Netherlands is ready to accept the waste.
We are now preparing a technical mechanism on how to return the
waste there," Witoelar told the press conference.
At least 20 containers of hazardous domestic waste have been
stored in the Tanjung Priok container terminal since late last
month as no one had claimed them.
Hermin Rosita, an assistant to the State Minister for the
Environment, said that the importer of the waste had used a false
address in Jakarta.
"When we checked the address of the importer in Kemang, South
Jakarta, it turned out to be a cafe," said Hermin.
She could not say when the waste would be sent back to the
Netherlands, but said that her office would coordinate with other
agencies -- the port management, customs office, and water
police.
According to Witoelar, the government would continue to pay
serious attention to waste trafficking, which he said involved
international crime syndicates in the same was as people and drug
trafficking did.
"We will not tolerate hazardous waste being sent here from
foreign countries," he said, adding that his office had managed
to persuade Singapore to accept 60 bags of hazardous waste sent
to Galang island, Riau province, last year.
He said that Singapore agreed to accept the waste during talks
between Singapore and Indonesia in the secretariat of the Basel
Convention on May 10 and May 11
Both Indonesia and Singapore are signatories to the Basel
Convention, which is intended to resolve disputes on waste
shipments.
In the joint press statement issued after the negotiation,
Singapore did not recognize that the material on Galang island as
hazardous waste, but said that it was ready to accept it.
According to Hermin, the waste would be sent to Singapore on
Wednesday.