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Jakarta starts e-waste collection service in cooperation with PT
After long ignoring the issue of the correct disposal of electronic goods, the Jakarta Sanitation Agency has launched a new initiative for treating the dangerous garbage, involving deploying special trucks to collect it in cooperation with a private waste-treatment company
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fter long ignoring the issue of the correct disposal of electronic goods, the Jakarta Sanitation Agency has launched a new initiative for treating the dangerous garbage, involving deploying special trucks to collect it in cooperation with a private waste-treatment company.
Sanitation agency head Isnawa Adji said on Tuesday that cooperation was being considered with PT Prasadha Pamunah Limbah Industri, a waste-treatment company located in Gunung Putri, Bogor, West Java.
Isnawa said the company had treated only industrial waste in the past but was open to working with the administration. It had actually already looked into treating electronic waste, or e-waste, but had found it difficult to collect.
'We plan to help the company collect e-waste while it pays compensation to the garbage facilities,' he said.
He added that e-waste such as computers, refrigerators, batteries and other broken electronic devices still had value, so residents could receive compensation.
Isnawa said the agency would use two ways to collect the e-waste. 'The first one is residents can actively submit their e-waste through their local garbage facilities,' he said.
He added that Jakarta currently had only 380 garbage facilities, not many considering the number of community units in the capital city, which is up to 2,700.
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'Some producers have 'trade in' programs when you can submit broken or used electronic devices to get some cash.'
He said that as the collection facilities were few and far between, the company would also deploy trucks as e-waste collection points.
'We currently have 80 trucks specifically for inorganic garbage,' he said.
He added that the trucks would be stationed in public spaces like Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, or the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle (Bundaran HI) during Car Free Day on Sundays.
He said residents could dump their inorganic garbage in the trucks, including e-waste.
Isnawa also encouraged residents in housing complexes or apartments to communally collect their e-waste and then request that the agency pick it up. 'Please deliver the request via our Twitter account @kebersihanDKI,' he said.
Executive director of the Committee for Leaded Gasoline Eradication (KPBB), Ahmad Syafrudin, said that the government or the city administration did barely anything to handle electronic waste.
Ahmad said that Indonesia already had a 2008 law on waste management but a regulation to elaborate on the law had still not been made.
The law required that producers handle their own waste. 'However, the article narrows that down to only the packaging,' he said.
Ahmad said consumers could try to return broken devices to producers. 'Some producers have 'trade in' programs when you can submit broken or used electronic devices to get some cash. We should support this kind of program,' he said.
Ahmad said that electronic waste had apparently became a business for some people, known as urban miners.
He said that they usually dismantled the devices to get valuable components. 'They can extract gold, silver and copper from the waste,' he said.
He said the miners also processed the plastic to be turned into plastic pellets to be sold to plastic factories.
'Those processes conducted by home industries are far from adhering to safety standards, especially regarding the waste,' he said.
The remains of lead and tin were often dumped anywhere while burning plastic produced toxic gases like furan and dioxin.
Only a few producers or retailers in Indonesia receive returned packaging or used products from customers. The Body Shop is the best-known producer to accept used bottles and provides incentives for returning them.
