Emmy Fitri – The residents of Kalisari in East Jakarta used to dread the annual rainy season not just because of the floods. Rains also meant the polluted waterways running through their neighborhood would overflow and inundate their homes with filth.
"In the rainy season, we were always worried. If a flood comes, the water brings a lot of garbage," Evi Kurniasari, a housewife, told the Jakarta Globe. Her house sits just a few meters from a creek that feeds into the heavily polluted Ciliwung River.
But things have changed following campaigns to inform residents of how to properly dispose of their garbage.
"People are no longer throwing trash into the river. That is quite an achievement for us here," said Evi's neighbor, Magdalena Ketut. "All of our trash is collected and sent to Bantar Gebang as far as I know. But I have no idea what happens to it afterward. The cleanliness of our neighborhood is our main concern here."
Evi and Magdalena, along with their neighbors, may have been successful in cleaning up their neighborhood, but Jakarta's garbage problem does not end with residents leaving their waste in front of their homes for collection.
Four times a week, Parjanto and his two relatives push their old carts through the streets of Kalisari to collect household waste. Earning about Rp 500,000 ($50) a month, they take the trash they collect to a temporary dump site where dozens of scavengers sort out plastics and paper that can be sold to recyclers. The rest of the waste is left for the City Sanitation Agency's trucks to pick up.
The trucks take the collected waste to the 125-hectare Bantar Gebang dump site in neighboring Bekasi, east of Jakarta, where Kalisari's garbage meets the rest of the 6,000 metric tons of waste produced daily by Jakarta's 12 million residents.
The problem is that Bantar Gebang, which has been operating for two decades, has reached if not exceeded its capacity. The open dump also poses health and environmental hazards, including groundwater contamination.
Jakarta has signed an agreement with neighboring Tangerang to build an integrated waste-treatment facility in Ciangir subdistrict. The site is expected to start receiving garbage from West and South Jakarta next year. The tender to select a management firm is scheduled to be held this month.
But local residents have been protesting against the plan over worries about its impact on their environment. Ciangir residents are not the only ones against the new landfill. "[A new dump site] is not a sustainable approach to solid waste management," said Darrundon, an urban planner. "I have long proposed the use of a composting system applied in smaller units throughout Jakarta."
Household waste makes up nearly 60 percent of the city's trash. Most of it is organic, which means it is recyclable. But the practice of separating plastics and paper from organic waste such as leaves and food is not common here, despite numerous calls from green activists and the city administration.
Furthermore, according to the Indonesian Solid Waste Association, the Jakarta Sanitation Agency can only handle 35 percent of the total daily solid waste produced due to a shortage of trucks.
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says 28 percent of the capital's trash finds its way into the city's drains and rivers, contributing to the problem of chronic flooding.
"Forty percent of Jakarta's residential areas are well planned," Darrundon said. "They have open spaces that can be used as composting sites. Each neighborhood unit can have an area designated for composting. Fenced with bamboo or other vegetation, the process is simple and doesn't generate pollution."
If the waste was managed in each neighborhood unit, he said, many resources could be saved, such as the gasoline used by the city's garbage trucks.
Ridwan Pandjaitan, acting head of the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD), agreed with Darrundon, saying a community-initiated movement was the most viable solution to help the city administration manage waste.
"With the largest percentage of garbage coming from households, I think people should get involved in managing waste from their neighborhoods," he said.
The Jakarta administration has a program to clean up the 13 rivers that flow through the city. "We ask squatters living along the riverbanks to think twice before dumping their garbage into the rivers. They will be the first to be impacted by clogged rivers so there is a reason for them to cooperate," Ridwan said.
Several communities have initiated programs for solid-waste management, but most of these have been short-lived.
One of the most sustainable programs is being carried out by residents of Kampung Banjarsari in Cilandak, South Jakarta. The kampung, nestled between the city's busy Jalan TB Simatupang and Jalan Fatmawati, is a household name among green activists. The neighborhood uses the "4R" concept: Reduce, reuse, recycle and replant. It was recognized by Unesco in 1996 for its pioneer project in community waste management.
Harini Bambang Wahono, the woman behind the program, has traveled throughout the country to train communities in how to manage their neighborhood environments. Her efforts bore fruit as the original project was replicated in other locations.
Unesco began a similar project in 1999 in Kapuk Muara, North Jakarta, where it introduced regreening, composting and recycling. The next step will be to prepare formal policies, regulations and awareness campaigns to complement programs already underway.
According to Ridwan, the city is always receptive to positive ideas to involve the public in creating a better environment. He said he realized that many community-initiated programs have shortcomings, such as a lack of funding. But when asked whether there were policies to ensure the sustainability of community-initiated projects, he said, "It is beyond my ability [to say]. The city administration also has priorities and I believe the issue is part of it."
From Nov. 10-12, international experts will converge on Jakarta to map out a sustainable plan for the capital. For more information on the Sustainable Jakarta Convention, visit the Web site sjconvention.com.
This story is part of a five-day series on some of Jakarta's most serious problems. Tomorrow, we look at Jakarta's need for open spaces.