Communities learn how to treat household waste

Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Education programs are being introduced across the city to help Jakarta go green and its residents become more environmentally aware.

"We (have started) by educating residents with the simplest task of sorting out their domestic waste," said Harry Poli Riyanto from Pondok Kelapa subdistrict.

For two years, Harry has run a local composting system and he said, "Most residents aren't educated or accustomed to manage waste in their home".

The 40-year-old father of two, along with a handful of his neighbors, other residents and members of the subdistrict board, said he would expand his program at the 20,000-square-meter city forest in Jl. Haji Dogon, Pondok Kelapa, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta.

The forest today sees composted about 40 percent of its leaf waste, 30 percent of market and domestic organic waste, as well as 30 percent of animal waste from chicken, goat, cow and horse meat products.

"Raising people's awareness to sort out their domestic organic waste is a tough job, I know," Harry said.

He also said most organic waste for the composting program came from the nearby market instead of residential homes.

It is estimated a community unit (RW) with some 500 families can produce an average of 500 kg in daily waste.

There are 13 RWs in the Pondok Kelapa subdistrict and Harry, who has been living there for nine years, said an estimated 95 percent of the total 130,000 people in the area were not yet aware of the importance of waste management.

Only 20 percent of the residents are willing to sort out their organic waste from their non-organic waste, he said, "However, even the 20 percent do not always do that".

"They still need to be constantly reminded."

No residents were currently involved in the three-week process of decomposing the mix of waste into fertilizer.

Harry said the program paid two to three sanitation workers to monitor the humidity of the mixed waste piled in the city forest.

The fertilizer is then packed into 2.5 kg sacks.

"The most important thing is we want to inspire others to make an effort in creating a cleaner and greener living environment," Harry said.

He was referring to the lines of lush medication plants fertilized with compost.

They deliberately put the plants at the front yard of the subdistrict office because he said residents often relaxed there.

The compost fertilizer is currently being sold for Rp 4,000 per 2.5 kg sack to residents.

"We use the income sales to pay two to three sanitation officers, who daily monitor the piles of the composted waste in the forest."

Harry said he hoped city administration would support them by allocating funds for the program.

"We need to keep informing the public about this kind of waste management.

"At the moment we are only able to recycle the organic waste.

"We hope that one day we will also be able to process non-organic waste," Harry said.

In 2001, a similar waste recycling program operated from a small waste dump at Jl. Haji Naman, just a stone's throw from the Pondok Kelapa city forest.

The composting program, which used machines, unfortunately only lasted for about a year.

Not many residents were even aware of its about its existence at the time.

Ari, 24, who has lived in Pondok Kelapa since childhood, said she had heard of some composting programs held in areas around Jakarta, but not one in her immediate area.

Jakarta has a major garbage problem, producing more than 6,000 tons of waste per day.

Although most of the city's waste goes to the 108-hectare sanitary landfill in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, at least 118 hectares of land in Jakarta is still occupied by garbage.

The city has one recycling plant capable of processing around 500 tons of waste in Cakung Cilincing, North Jakarta.