Cirebon Mayor Eti Herawati said she expected the program, dubbed “clear and gold”, to encourage the public to play a more active role in ensuring the cleanliness of their environment.

“We take this garbage disposal issue seriously. The effort requires [the participation of] the public. We hope the gold savings incentive would motivate people to dispose of garbage in their vicinity,” Eti said as quoted by Antara. 

According to Eti, the administration had cooperated with state-owned pawnshop PT Pegadaian for the gold savings incentive.

She said only one community unit (RW) in Harjamukti district, Cirebon, had implemented the incentive program.

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The local administration is cooperating with 18 other RWs to maximize the impact of the program.

She added that the Cirebon administration had also prepared 32 mobile trash disposal sites across the city to ensure that the program runs effectively.

“We expect this program to result in a new, cleaner face of Cirebon that will attract more tourists,” Eti said.

Pegadaian Cirebon branch head Mufri Yandi called on the public to participate in the program, saying that the gold savings incentive represented the pawnshop’s support for the local administration’s environmental efforts. (rfa/kes)

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