Abdullah, a community unit head in Petamburan subdistrict, Central Jakarta, was out of ideas for how to encourage residents to pay more attention to sanitation in the neighborhood.

He claimed that he had repeatedly called on residents to maintain clean homes and areas surrounding their abodes but trash continued to accumulate.

'€œSome of them have yet to realize that maintaining clean surroundings is partly their responsibility,'€ he said recently.

Abdullah said his unit had deployed five garbage collectors to 11 neighborhood units. '€œHowever, their job is to only pick up garbage in front of people'€™s houses and dispose of it at a temporary dump site. They do not sweep the alleys or clean the sewers,'€ he said.

Abdullah said many residents considered garbage collecting and the disposal of it dirty work. '€œWe even have to hire outsiders [to work] as garbage collectors,'€ he said.

Abdullah said his community unit, consisting of around 900 families, paid fees ranging from Rp 7,000 (57 US cents) to Rp 10,000 a month to pay garbage collectors.

'€œWe pay them around Rp 800,000 per month. We cannot pay them more as our financial resources are also limited,'€ he said.

He added that most workers earned additional income from selling recyclable goods such as cardboard boxes and plastic bottles.

According to Abdullah, garbage collectors usually pick up garbage in the morning and transport it to a temporary dump site where garbage trucks then haul it to the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi.

Aside from traffic and flood-related issues, garbage is a problem plaguing Jakarta. Some people place blame on the Sanitation Agency for the dirty city.

Sanitation Agency head Saptastri Ediningtyas said that the chronic problem could not be alleviated without the involvement of residents.

 '€œWe are only responsible for making sure that garbage from temporary dump sites is transported to Bantar Gebang and to maintain public facilities like highways, rivers and parks,'€ she said.

Saptastri said, therefore, that her agency would focus more on educating public on waste management. '€œTransporting garbage from residential areas to Bantar Gebang is very costly and inefficient. It is better to educate residents on how to better manage their own garbage,'€ she said.

The city of 10 million people produces 5,800 to 6,000 tons of garbage per day and pays Rp 114,000 per ton of garbage to be processed at Bantar Gebang. The city allocates Rp 400 billion annually from its budget for waste management.

The agency head said her office would work on developing a waste management education program.

'€œWe will try to find the best way to change people'€™s mindsets and attitude toward garbage with measurable programs,'€ she said.

Trisakti University urban analyst Nirwono Yoga said that independent waste management was a key to resolving sanitation issues in the city.

'€œResidential areas, markets, shopping malls, office areas, apartments and hotels should manage their own waste,'€ he said, adding that if each institution managed their own garbage, the chronic problem could be solved.

Nirwono said, however, that the city administration should support such efforts. According to the analyst, many environmental communities are discouraged from recycling and rather encouraged
to sell it.

'€œWhy doesn'€™t the city administration buy their products? Compost, for example, can be used by the Park and Cemetery Agency,'€ he said.

Nirwono said more people would manage their waste if they realized that it had economical value.

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