Indonesia addresses waste issues with Poland green-tech pact

Facing pollution and waste management issues, under a bi-lateral deal, Warsaw offers Jakarta aid through new technologies and expertise.

By Yenny Herawati for Khabar Southeast Asia in Jakarta

March 26, 2014
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Big Indonesian cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Yogyakarta struggle to manage garbage and other man-made waste.

  • Garbage covers a stretch of the Ciliwung River in Jakarta on January 21st, as floods hit the Indonesian capital and its satellite towns. [Adek Berry/AFP]

    Garbage covers a stretch of the Ciliwung River in Jakarta on January 21st, as floods hit the Indonesian capital and its satellite towns. [Adek Berry/AFP]

Most evident during the wet season, heavy rains cause refuse-choked waterways such as Jakarta's Ciliwung River, to overflow and flood neighbourhoods.

While citizens of the capital say they have had enough, the Indonesian government says it is working to solve the problem.

"A healthy environment will give us peace of mind," Muhammad Rokhadi, a 37-year-old Muslim cleric who lives on the river's bank, told Khabar Southeast Asia.

People's attitudes toward public hygiene and the dumping of waste into rivers across Indonesia need to change, and city governments should improve planning so as to prevent such environmental messes from recurring, said fellow Jakarta resident Yuni Rahmawati, 35.

"This is something that we can prevent. Human behaviour contributes significantly to the problem, and Jakarta continues to struggle with solutions," Yuni told Khabar.

Indonesia, Poland in environmental partnership

Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya on March 4th welcomed a Polish delegation to Jakarta at the start of a week-long visit touted as promoting environmental co-operation and green technological ties between Indonesia and Poland.

"We hope that through this co-operation we will have an increased ability to prevent and to manage various wastes," Balthasar said then.

The Polish visit followed the November 20th signing of a memorandum of understanding in which the two countries agreed to co-operate on environmental matters, including climate change, air and water pollution. Under the agreement, Warsaw will offer Jakarta scientific expertise and technology for waste management, such as new methods of recycling solid and liquid waste.

"For the early [part of the] programme, we will focus on Sumatra and Kalimantan. We are expecting threats to air pollution and water pollution can be improved immediately," Balthasar said.

Rising challenges cause call for action

Land reclamation for the construction of office and residential buildings cleared Jakarta of green spaces that served as natural barriers against flooding, according to environmentalists.

"If we compare the current development with the development 30 years ago in Jakarta, where reclamation was not a problem, we can see that we never faced serious issue of flooding in Jakarta like now," Abetnego Tarin, executive director for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), told Khabar.

"The problem of waste in big cities will continue to get worse if we do not do something," he added.

Apart from waterways, Indonesians dispose of waste at municipal dumps. The volume of waste at landfills has now reached 200,000 tonnes per day, or 73 million tonnes per year, according to the Environment Ministry.

"In metropolitan cities, the average landfill waste per day is 1,300 tonnes. In big cities, piles of garbage reach 480 tonnes a day," said Rasio Ridho Sani, assistant deputy minister for Management of Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Wastes at the Environment Ministry.

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