Waste management practices in Jakarta-
The rapidly increasing population of Jakarta has posed the problem of waste management. At present, the city generates 6,500 tonnes of waste every day. The efficient collection and disposal of waste in a scientific manner continues to be a major challenge in the city, which mainly depends on the landfill site at Bantar Gebang for disposing of all its waste. However, the decreasing capacity of the landfill over a period of time has put tremendous pressure on the city government to reorganise waste management practices. Dr G. Andari Kristanto, working under the Environmental Engineering Program of the University of Indonesia, says, “The main challenge for solid waste management in Jakarta is the imbalance between huge daily waste volume and inadequate processing infrastructure, minimum processing technology, insufficient resources and low community participation and awareness to recycle and manage wastes.”
A number of projects are already under way in the different waste segments – composting, recycling and mechanical biological treatment of waste. Once completed, these projects will create an additional capacity for managing and treating waste in Jakarta. Another positive development is that the city government is actively promoting waste management and recycling by way of projects and regulatory initiatives. In addition, incentives are being given for citizen participation in the sector.
That said, given the slow pace of development in the sector, it is imperative for all stakeholders to work collectively to identify areas with high waste generating potential and devise a possible route to manage it. Innovative strategies should be adopted to recycle and reuse waste in order to recover the cost of providing solid waste management services. The focus in future should not only be on creating infrastructure and assets, but also on the flow of services through such asset creation.
Existing waste management facilities
In 2009, the Jakarta government signed a 20-year agreement to use the Bantar Gebang landfill site for a tipping fee of Rp 103,000 per tonne of garbage dumped at the site. Since then the landfill has been receiving about 75 per cent (4,500-4,900 tonnes) of the total waste produced in Jakarta. In order to manage this huge quantity of waste, gasification landfill gas anaerobic digestion (GALFAD) technology was deployed in 2010, which not only treats waste but also generates energy from it. GALFAD produces composting material from waste, and harvests the expended gas for the biomethane electricity generating system. At present, 10.5 MWh of electricity is generated per day at the integrated waste management facility, which is expected to reach 20 MWh by 2015 and 26 MWh by 2023.
Besides the waste-to-energy programme, a composting scheme using the windrow composting method is also implemented at the Bantar Gebang site. The composting area occupies 20,000 square metres of the total 110 hectare waste management site. The composting facility has a capacity of 250–300 tonnes per day (tpd). The compost generated is a suitable fertiliser for palm plantation and soil rehabilitation. It may be noted that this facility has the capacity to handle only 11 per cent of the total organic waste (2,275 tpd) dumped at Bantar Gebang. The remaining is left untreated and emits methane gas into the environment. In order to address this issue, an expansion of the compost site is being planned, after which it will have a capacity of handling 1,000–1,500 tpd. Moreover, a project has been launched under the clean development mechanism, which will capture the methane released by the untreated organic waste before it escapes into the atmosphere.
Another waste treatment facility based on the mechanical biological treatment technology has been operationalised in Cakung Cilincing, North Jakarta. The intermediate treatment facility (ITF) recycles inorganic waste and ferments organic waste to produce electricity. At present, this facility generates about 4.95 MWh of electricity from 1,300 tonnes of organic waste. In addition, the Jakarta City Sanitation Agency is promoting a reduce–reuse–recycle (3R) programme. Over 90 3R facilities have already been developed across Jakarta that can recycle about 350 tpd of waste (5 per cent). Under this programme, domestic waste is segregated into organic (70 per cent) and non-organic waste (30 per cent). The organic waste is then composted and the non-organic waste is recycled. In order to make this programme a success, the government has organised various awareness programmes and technical training camps at the local level. However, despite these initiatives, the 3R programme has not been very successful. “Even if recycling at source has been sporadically initiated by the community, the waste collection and transportation often mix them again. Thus, the recycling process becomes much more difficult because of mixed wastes.” highlights Dr Kristanto.
Going forward
The current waste management facilities in Jakarta are severely inadequate to handle the waste generated in the city. In order to improve waste management, the government is considering setting up three new ITFs – one each at Sunter and Marunda in North Jakarta and one at Semanan in West Jakarta. Each of these facilities is planned to have a capacity of between 1,000 tpd and 1,500 tpd. Upon completion, these facilities will significantly reduce the burden on the Bantar Gebang landfill site.
Meanwhile, to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework to the solid waste management sector, the government endorsed a new waste management by-law in 2013. This by-law will regulate technology use, community involvement, producer responsibility and coordination with private operators for managing waste. In addition, it directs citizens to segregate organic and non-organic waste at source. Manufacturers have also been mandated to produce products in organic packing only, failing which they will face a penalty of between Rp 25 million and Rp 50 million. Further, Rp 20 billion has been allocated to include 80 new waste transportation trucks in the city. The new by-law also regulates the use and development of environment-friendly technology to manage trash. Furthermore, the government has formulated a Solid Waste Management Plan 2012–32, which will be implemented in four phases. The plan promotes the 3R programme and ITF technology to reduce the burden on the landfill. It also aims to deploy advanced technologies like incinerator and mechanical biological treatment to treat the waste generated. The plan targets to install a capacity of 74 MW (15 MW ITF Cakung, 14 MW ITF Sunter, 25 MW Marunda and 20 MW Bantar Gebang) by 2032.
Despite initiatives like 3R, endorsement of the by-law, large allocation in the budget and plan for development of ITFs, the progress in the sector has remained slow. Although the government has constantly been extending monetary support and making efforts to improve the situation, it must be understood that waste management is a shared responsibility and any effort will be unsuccessful without support from the citizens. However, with a strong policy and regulatory framework in place, a positive impact in the sector is expected to be witnessed soon.
