Jakarta – The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed into law a bill on garbage management which now threatens to punish local administrations and private operators for failing to manage eco-friendly dump sites.
It also obliges businesses to use recyclable materials in their production processes and provide labels containing information about garbage reduction and management of their products.
Hendarso Hadiparmono, who headed the House team to deliberate the bill, said the government should immediately create supporting regulations to implement the new law.
"It's necessary to immediately create an incentives and disincentives system for producers in order to motivate them to reduce their garbage," he said.
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said the incentives could include business facilities. "It could be business credit or other facilities," he said. Details about the incentive and disincentive system would be stipulated in supporting regulations, he added.
The minister said the garbage management law required 12 supporting regulations for proper implementation and that the government had to finish drafting all of them within one year.
"We have discussed several of these regulations. We hope to finish all of them before the year is up," Rachmat said.
The new law has earned support from the private sector, he said. "This law gives them legal certainty about garbage management," Rachmat said.
Wahyudin Munawir, another member of the House committee deliberating the bill, said the House invited several companies – including PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk. and PT Aqua Golden Mississippi – to hearings to deliberate the bill.
These businesses fully supported the garbage bill, Wahyudin said. "They had already conducted some research into recycling their garbage," he said.
After the law takes effect, he said, the companies could open recycling centers through which they could collect their discarded packaging.
Soekartono Hadiwarsito, also a committee member, said the law provided the legal basis for regional administrations to make agreements with private sector entities for garbage management. "The regional administrations have been doubtful about cooperating with private parties," he said.
Having agreements with the private sector in garbage management would be better for regional administrations because, he said, they would no longer need to use regional budget to pay for it.
Wahyudin said the law would motivate regional administrations to start working with the private sector immediately because it stipulates that members of the public can file class action lawsuits if they are harmed by poor garbage management.
The law also imposes sanctions on institutions falling short of standards in garbage management. Intentional violations of the regulations could result in prison sentences of between four and 10 years and fines of between Rp 100 million and Rp 5 billion.
Violators are also threatened with five to 15 years in prison and fines of between Rp 100 million and Rp 5 billion if their wrongdoings result in deaths.
Syamsul Bahri of the committee emphasized that the law aimed to change society's garbage handling culture. "Please inform the public they are no longer allowed to litter anywhere they like," he said. (alf)