Every year, TPA Putri Cempo, which is located in Mojosongo, Surakarta, Central Java, receives about 9 million tons of trash. According to the Surakarta Cleanliness and Garden Affairs Agency, the amount of trash in the city reached 100.3 million tons in 2015, up from 96.2 million tons in 2014 and 92.4 million tons in 2013.

The DKP Surakarta head of waste management, Muhammad Pramudjo, said Surakarta needed a new trash disposal site, but it was very difficult for the administration to get a piece of land as large as the one being used for TPA Putri Cempo.

“There is no choice, the Surakarta administration must process trash produced every day because it is difficult to get land for a new TPA. A waste-powered electricity plant can reduce the trash overload,” said Pramudjo recently.

Meanwhile, a Russian investor has offered the Surakarta administration assistance to build a trash processing facility at Putri Cempo, which can turn waste into energy and petrochemical products without requiring a trash-sorting process.  

The president director of energy producer, PT Tasrindo Karya Energi, as the local partner of the Russian-based investor, Hutomo, said turning waste into petrochemical products was a breakthrough because until now waste processing was known only for producing electricity.

Hutomo said every 1,000 tons of trash used per day could produce up to 20 megawatts of electrical power. The trash management investment fund the company planned to disburse amounted up to US$100 million, he added.

Hutomo further explained that his company had begun to carry out a pre-feasibility study, which it aimed to finish in August, before the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

“We will process all trash, including electronic waste, wet and dry garbage, without sorting it first. It is planned that this [Indonesia-Russia] cooperation will be the first trash processing cooperation in Indonesia,” said Hutomo.

Overcapacity – Cattle roam over piles of garbage at the Putri Cempo dumpsite in Mojosongo, Surakarta, Central Java. The site has been overloaded for 10 years. (thejakartapost.com/Ganug Nugroho Adi)

Separately, DKP Surakarta head Hasta Gunawan said the cooperation over trash management would consist of two work packages, namely the trash-based power plant project and the management of TPA Putri Cempo. The two projects would be integrated because they had similar purposes, he added.

Hasta said the agency was currently holding a tendering process for the construction of the waste processing facility. He said PT Tasrindo Karya Energi was not participating in the tendering process because it was late submitting documents; thus, the Russian investor must wait until the tender process was completed.

“If no company wins the tender process, the Russian investor can join the second tender process,” said Hasta. (ebf)