Professor of IPB: 65 % of Waste Manageable by Households

 

Provincial Government of Jakarta is currently faced with the problem of waste management. As we know, the city government disposes of its garbage to the final disposal (landfill) of Bantargebang Bekasi. Every day an estimated 6,500 tons (data of 2012) of waste is taken to the landfill by the city government to Bantargebang. The landfill condition of Bantar Gebang is now like a mountain of garbage and its technical age will soon expire. Meanwhile, today land is rarely available for use as landfill.

 

Professor of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Prof.Dr. Nastiti Siwi Indrasti says, 65 per cent of waste in the landfill is organic waste that can be processed into compost. According to her, if at the beginning, waste is managed at the household level, the garbage piled up in the landfill is wasier to process into products that are reusable, recycled, and disposal.

 

"The waste problem in Indonesia is a complicated issue and its solution takes a long time, political will, good cooperation between the legislative, executives and good operation," she said when met at the Meeting Room of the Department of Industrial Technology of Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, IPB.

 

She said, in addition to a good attitude toward waste management, education of the individuals, community, cleaning service staff and the government is required. If 65 percent of organic waste is already processed at the household level, the government and the waste management just need to process 35 percent of the remaining inorganic waste.

 

However, what is happening now is all forms of garbage are mixed at the beginning of production. From the households, temporary disposal site, to the final the landfill all types of waste are mixed into one. The resulted compost is not of good quality because it is mixed plastic waste and even with hazardous and toxic waste (B3).

 

"So to solve the waste problem, the treatment should start from the household by separating organic waste from inorganic ones. The organic waste already separated is then further processed into compost, so the garbage in the landfill is inorganic one, which is then reprocessed," she said. (Mtd)