Wet or dry? It's all garbage to students

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.