Residents continue to use Ciliwung as a garbage dump

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 03/26/2008 12:37 PM | City

GARBAGE TIP RIVER: Residents of Kampung Jawa, South Jakarta, dump garbage along the banks of the Ciliwung River, despite the pollution and potential flooding this causes. This photo was taken Sunday. (JP/P.J. Leo)

Throwing household garbage into the Ciliwung river has been a routine for thousands of residents in Kampung Jawa, South Jakarta, for many years.

"We do not know where else to throw our household garbage because there is no garbage dump in this area. We throw it onto the river bank so it will be washed away," said Kusno, a resident.

He acknowledged the practice often caused flooding in housing areas near the dowstream of the river.

"We understand the impact but we have no choice," he said.

Kusno, who has lived in the area since 1971, said there was once a garbage dump in the area, but it was closed down following complaints from locals.

"Many people complained because it was so smelly. Then people started to throwing their garbage on the bank of the river," he said.

However, it turned out that the effort make things worse. The garbage is easily flown into rivers and leads to floods. It also spreads unpleasant odors from the river bank.

"I can smell it from my house which is about 50 meters away from the river's edge, but now I am used to it. I cannot complain because the dump is there for residents," Kusno said.

The garbage mountain, which is between 15 and 20 meters high, was created by people from four community units (RW), according to Dahlan Abdulah, a former neighborhood community (RT) chief.

Each RW consists of 16 RTs and each RT comprises around 70 families, he said. With this calculation, there are almost 6,000 families using the river to dump their garbage every day.

Garbage men collect the waste door-to-door for between Rp 10,000 and 15,000 per family per month, and take it to the river in carts.

"No garbage trucks can pass the narrow streets in the neighborhood," Dahlan said.

"In 2001, we closed the river 'dump site' and transported the trash to Tanjung Barat garbage dump, around one or two kilometers from Kampung Jawa. But this only lasted for a year because the garbage men complained, saying the site was too far," he said.

The waste problem has caused headaches for Jakarta administration.

Jakarta Sanitation Agency records show the city's population of 10 million produces around 27,000 cubic meters or 6,000 tons of waste every day, around 60 percent of which is household waste.

Currently, most of Jakarta's garbage ends up at Bantargebang garbage dump in Bekasi.

The agency's head, Eko Bharuna, said it was the subdistrict head's responsibility to facilitate a garbage dump system for the neighborhood.

"The Sanitation Agency is only in charge of picking up garbage from all garbage dumps around the city, and providing facilities like garbage trucks," Eko said.

"We provide five or six garbage dumps in every subdistrict, so the subdistrict head and RW and RT chiefs should manage an appropriate temporary dump site in their area, and arrange retribution from the residents," he said.

It was the Public Works Agency's responsibility to manage rivers like The Ciliwung, he said.

"I don't mean to shift the responsibility, but every agency has its jobs. So, it is important for every subdistrict, including Kampung Jawa, to tell garbage men and residents to throw trash in legal dump sites, not into rivers. I believe there must be an appropriate site nearby," Eko said. (trw)

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