'This trash isn't just regular trash'

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 02/19/2007 8:40 AM  |  Jakarta

The Bogor and Bekasi administrations have complained about large amounts of Jakarta's post-flood garbage finding its way to their dumps. They say the city administration should help handle it. The Jakarta Post asked residents for their opinions on the issue.

Festy Rahma, 25, is an editor at a lifestyle magazine. She lives in Bulak Kamal, Bekasi with her family:

After the flood early this month in Jakarta... the piles of garbage in the city were huge.

I passed Jatinegara today and I saw a huge pile of garbage, with wood from wrecked furniture and mud.

I assume the dump will be overwhelmed by the flood garbage. It would be easy if we could burn it, but the problem is the trash is wet, not to mention the mud.

Jakarta already has problems with its trash without this flood garbage.

People should have an awareness of keeping the city clean. The sewers in front of their houses should be flowing well without any trash blocking them.

Siti Anggriani, 27, is a civil servant. She lives in Rempoa, South Jakarta, with her family:

My neighborhood wasn't affected by flood, so we don't have a garbage problem.

But when I passed the Bangka area near Kemang, South Jakarta, a couple of days ago, the piles of garbage there shocked me. The smell was horrible.

Apparently its status as an elite residential area could not save it from such a dreadful amount of garbage.

I think the city administration will have some trouble dealing with this garbage because, after the flooding, this trash isn't just regular trash, but also broken furniture and mud.

The city administration should deal with the garbage problem with some vision. They should recycle it and run campaigns to make people recycle, re-use and stop littering.

-- The Jakarta Post

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