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ith over 10 million residents, Jakarta has been struggling to tackle its waste problems and has been heavily reliant on Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi to dispose of the 7,000 tons of garbage produced daily.

Some 18,000 local residents have been subjected to the smell emanating from the capital’s garbage, not to mention the health hazards they are exposed to. Traffic congestion in the area is also exacerbated by the flow of garbage trucks to and from the site.

Since taking over the management of the dump two years ago, the Jakarta administration has been handing out Rp 600,000 (US$42) in compensation, called uang bau (smelly money), to each affected household every three months. However, red tape has often hampered its disbursement.

Dozens of residents living near the landfill have threatened to forcefully close down the facility because they have yet to receive the promised money.

“We will see by Monday. Today we are only giving a warning to the management,” Tajiri, a representative of the local residents, said on Wednesday.

It is not the first time they have faced such a situation. In 2017, they had to wait six months to receive the promised money. Jakarta Environment Agency head Isnawa Adji said the money could not yet be disbursed to the Bekasi administration because there were several requirements the West Java city had to meet.

Prior to receiving money from Jakarta, Bekasi officials must first submit a proposal and some required documents. Otherwise the money cannot be disbursed.

Separately, a senior official at the Bekasi administration, Dadang Hidayat, said the delay in payment was caused by “technical and administrative problems” and they promised to immediately settle the problem even if they had to use the city budget.

The accumulated trash from Jakarta has piled up to a height of 25 meters and in five years, the site, which is three decades old, may not be able to accommodate any more trash.

A 2013 bylaw on waste management, which was lauded as a new hope for a cleaner Jakarta as it engages residents, corporations and the government, has not been successful in significantly reducing Jakarta’s trash, said Gabriel Andari Kristanto, an environmental expert from the University of Indonesia.

“Jakarta’s ongoing efforts, such as implementing waste banks and developing an Intermediate Treatment Facility [ITF], which should have been done decades ago, are good. But it seems they are not connected to one another,” she said.

The administration, in cooperation with Finnish energy company Fortum, has pledged to develop an environmentally friendly incinerator, which will be the first to be built in Jakarta. It is expected that the facility can begin operation in 2021, and turn 2,200 tons of waste into energy daily.

Gabriel said that what the administration needed to do was to reduce waste from the source.

“The 3R [reuse, reduce and recycle] concept must be employed. I believe residents already understand the importance of separating their trash based on its type, but have the facilities [to process it] been provided?,” she said.

Renaldi Sunaryo, a campaigner with Greener.co, said residents may take the proposed waste treatment facilities for granted if they were not made aware of the importance of applying the 3R concept.

He said the administration had yet to launch a massive campaign to encourage more people to apply the 3R concept, including by inviting influential people to join the campaign.

“The administration should set an example. Can they guarantee that trash collectors do not mix the trash after residents have put it carefully in the appropriate bins?” he said.