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Govt sets new air quality standards for Adipura Award
The Environment Ministry is upping the standards for its Adipura Awards, now requiring cities to have cleaner air, in a bid to help reduce greenhouse emissions and air pollution
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he Environment Ministry is upping the standards for its Adipura Awards, now requiring cities to have cleaner air, in a bid to help reduce greenhouse emissions and air pollution.
The ministry will also assess whether cities have reduced amounts of garbage being dumped in landfills, environmental pollution controls deputy Hermien Rosita said at a dialogue Friday.
“There will be significant changes on the passing grade for cities to win [Adipura] awards.”
The dialogue was jointly organized by the ministry and the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalist (SIEJ).
Previously the ministry has only assessed waste management and green space. It also checked the cleanliness of main roads, housing and traditional markets in cities.
This year President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono handed over Adipura awards to 140 cities (including the five regencies in Jakarta), up from 126 in 2009.
Hermien said the award was not an indication of a healthy level for a city because it mainly focussed on waste management and ignored some problems.
The ministry will issue a decree on the new criteria for Adipura next month, to replace the existing regulation issued in 2006.
“We will assess the implementation of the 3Rs [reduce, reuse, recycle] scheme, aiming to cut the amount of garbage dumped in landfills,” Hermien said.
Ministry data shows that most of Indonesia’s dumps are poorly managed, resulting in massive methane gas emissions into the atmosphere.
Methane gas is a greenhouse gas, accelerating global warming.
The report shows that around 70 percent of Indonesia’s garbage is dumped in landfills, and less than 7 percent of this is recycled.
Up to six percent of garbage in many cities is dumped in rivers.
Jakarta, which has secured Adipura awards every year, currently produces around 6,500 tons of garbage a day, most of which is dumped at Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java.
The ministry anticipates Jakarta’s waste will grow to more than 9,000 tons per day in 2030.
In terms of air pollution, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) says air quality in most Indonesian cities continued to worsen last year.
The agency measures dust and airborne particles from road traffic, known as PM10 (particulate matter), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3).
The BMKG report shows PM10 concentrations in Bandung, Palembang, Tangerang and Jakarta exceeded tolerable levels set by the government.
Deputy environment minister for technical development and capacity building Sudariyono said the massive increase in motorcycles on the road had a big impact on air pollution.
“There is an increasing trend in pollution from the use of motorcycles,” he said.
