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.