T

he Bandar Lampung municipality has established a cooperation with humanitarian NGO Mercy Corps regarding waste management in the city by setting up '€œwaste banks'€ through the Trash to Cash program.

The collaboration was marked by the signing on Friday of a memorandum of understanding between the Bandar Lampung municipality, Mercy Corps Indonesia and the Rockefeller Foundation during a Trash to Cash event at which a feasibility study and waste-bank business plan were publicized.

The event was organized jointly by the three stakeholders.

Bharat R. Phatak from Mercy Corps said the Trash for Cash event was part of efforts to assess waste management in Bandar Lampung city in an integrated manner.

The Trash to Cash program is currently in place in three subdistricts, namely South Panjang in Panjang district, Bumi Waras in Bumi Waras district, and Kota Karang in East Teluk Betung district, with a target of 36,176 beneficiaries across the three subdistricts.

'€œIn each model subdistrict that is implementing the Trash for Cash program, a waste bank organizational structure has been established from the neighborhood-unit level,'€ said Phatak.

During the event, agents of change in three districts in Bandar Lampung were inaugurated by Bandar Lampung Mayor Herman HN.

The waste bank is part of activities to give added economic value to garbage, which are being carried out in a participatory manner by residents.

Residents collect dry household waste, such as cartons, cans and magazines, which are then sold to the waste processor for recycling.

The waste bank is expected to become a solution to help reduce the volume of waste at the household level.

At the same time, waste that is able to be processed could generate economic value and append families'€™ incomes.

As well as Herman, the event was attended by Mercy Corps Indonesia'€™s Yulia Rahmawati and Bandar Lampung Parks and Sanitation Office head Budiman.

Previously, the waste bank program has been successful in Bantul, Yogyakarta and Tangerang, Banten.

In Jakarta, Mercy Corps has also supported a community to build a composting facility called Rumah Kompos (compost house).

The facility provides the community with a waste-chopping machine and hundreds of plastic containers to allow it to produce compost commercially as fertilizer.

The facility processes the waste using a cheap and simple technique. The operators put chopped waste into plastic containers and turn the containers upside down once every three days, creating compost after six weeks.

The community sells the compost fertilizer at a lower price than the market value to local offices, such as the subdistrict office and the police office.