West Jakarta Environment Agency’s West Flood Canal team head, Faiq Ismawan, said the sight was not uncommon as heavy rains pushed water and garbage to the river in front of the Seasons City shopping mall in West Jakarta.

“Water from Bogor [West Java] flows through here, so every time heavy rain falls, garbage like bamboo, styrofoam, wooden blocks to furniture like chairs, bed and sometimes refrigerators can be found here,” he said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

He said garbage was also sourced from the trash that piled up on the Manggarai sluice gate in South Jakarta.

West Jakarta water management unit worker Pirgo Silalahi said he had once found bamboo roots and long wooden blocks when cleaning the West Flood Canal. 

He and his team use an amphibious backhoe to dredge the garbage out of the water while a truck is on standby to take the floating waste to the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java. (ris)

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