Firms and hospitals told to repair waste treatment facility

The South Tangerang municipal administration has called on all industrial firms and hospitals to soon repair damage to their waste treatment facilities.

Head of the municipal environmental management body (BLHD) Budi Hermanto said Wednesday that the industrial firms and hospitals should operate the repaired facilities within six months from now.

“We will monitor the repair works every two months. Should they fail to operate six months later, we will freeze their permits,” he said on Wednesday.

According to him, the South Tangerang municipality has 20 private hospitals and each of them produce 250 cubic meters of hazardous waste (B3) per month.

“We have inspected 17 hospitals and found that two of them had no waste treatment facilities at all, while the existing treatment facilities at some hospitals could not function,” he said.

The hazardous waste included needles, medicine, and human waste.