TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Greenpeace Indonesia Urban Campaigner, Muharram Atha Rasyadi, asked the government of Jakarta to conduct a comprehensive study involving experts before implementing Acting Governor Heru Budi Hartono’s plan to develop a waste island.

"As we know, the waste problem in Jakarta has reached a critical level. Our landfill in Bantargebang has been overcapacity for years. Several incidents of burning landfills signaled that climate and weather could exacerbate this condition,” Atha told Tempo on Thursday, July 18, 2024.

According to Atha, the main solution to the waste crisis is implementing a more serious waste sorting mechanism, instead of adapting out-of-reach technology or making a waste island.

"More than half of our waste is organic, which has its own unique waste management. Unfortunately, it’s never been considered seriously which makes way for mixed waste that piles up year after year," he said.

On Heru Budi’s waste island proposal, the Director General of Waste, Garbage, and Hazardous and Toxic Materials Management of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Rosa Vivien Ratnawati said that she was aware of the Jakarta Provincial Government's plan to build an island in the Seribu Islands area to facilitate waste management. However, Vivien said the information was still informal.

"It has been discussed with us, but informally. We haven’t heard about the big plan and the design,” said Vivien in Jakarta, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.

Vivien supported a new landfill development for Jakarta, considering the capacity of the Bantargebang Landfill. “And the waste collected throughout Jakarta reached 8,000 tons per day,” she said.

Previously, the Jakarta Provincial Government said it’s still planning the waste island construction at O Island in Seribu Islands. "Hopefully, we will see the result in three to four years," said Head of the Jakarta Environment Office, Asep Kuswanto, quoted from Antara.

The construction of an island for waste management is part of the government’s effort at the downstream level, along with the Bantargebang integrated waste processing site (TPST), the operation of a waste power plant (PLTSa), and the operation of landfill mining as well as the RDF Plant in Bantargebang.

Asep said that the Jakarta government strives to integrate waste management from upstream, middle, to downstream. The government campaigned for household waste sorting and building the Jakarta Recycle Center at Pesanggrahan as one of the best reduce, reuse, and recycle waste management sites.

IRSYAN HASYIM

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