Wet or dry? It's all garbage to students
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The newly installed color-coded garbage bins across the city seem to be of little use to students of schools in Blok M, South Jakarta, and on Jl. Salemba, Central Jakarta.
The students told The Jakarta Post earlier this week that they were confused by the system whereby "wet garbage" was to be placed in the blue bins, and "dry garbage" in the orange ones. To be honest, most students said, they could only guess at what the difference between "wet" and "dry" garbage actually was.
"Dry leaves can be classified as "dry" trash, while "wet" trash is everything that is wet, including paper which can absorb water. Is that right?" asked Ina, 18, hopefully, a student of SMU 6 state high school in Bulungan, South Jakarta.
Anita, 16, a high school student of Yayasan Penabur, on Jl. Salemba, Central Jakarta, said that the "wet" bin was to accommodate wet plastic and anything else that was wet, so that the bad odor of spoiled goods would not permeate the "dry" trash.
Aulia, 17, a student of SMU 70 state high school in Bulungan, South Jakarta, said that the confusion would end if the city administration used the terms "organic" and "inorganic" instead of "wet" and "dry".
"Using 'organic' and 'inorganic' would be more accurate," he said.
He explained that the terms "wet" and "dry" were misleading as people disposed anything wet into the depths of the blue bin, and dry trash into the orange bin, even if the "trash" consisted of dry leaves -- which were in fact, as organic waste, supposed to be deposited into the blue bin.
The Jakarta Sanitation Agency has installed the pairs of blue and orange trash bins across the city. According to the agency, the blue bin is supposed to accommodate organic waste or trash that will decompose quickly, while the orange bin is to accommodate "dry" garbage or recyclable waste.
Guidelines printed on the front of the bins explain that, the blue bin is for leftover food, leaves and trash from the kitchen; while the orange bin is for paper, cans, fabric, plastic, cardboard, rubber, metal and glass.
Head of the sanitation agency, Selamat Limbong, had said earlier that the purpose of installing the bins was to increase Jakartans' awareness of the importance of good sanitation.
The students admitted that their schools had not provided them with adequate information on how to deal with their daily trash in an environmentally friendly manner.
"The teacher does not give us detailed information on how we should treat our daily garbage. He only asked us not to litter in public places," said Ivan, a SMU 6 state high school student.
The students realize that waste has become a major concern for a big city like Jakarta, especially after the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality -- which had accommodated the capital's 6,000 tons of daily waste since 1986 -- was closed down last Sunday.
Jakarta then dumped its waste on temporary dumps, but unfortunately much of the rubbish ended up on open land and caused environmental damage to surrounding areas.
"We know that there is another way to manage our waste, but we only know a little about that," said Anton, 17, another SMU 6 student.
All the students complained about the lack of information provided by the city administration.
"The administration should have familiarized the public on how to use the garbage bins via posters, or promoted the idea through electronic media," suggested Yesi, a student of SMU 70 state high school.