M

ore than two hectares of land at the Rawa Kucing disposal site (TPA) in Tangerang city, Banten, have been turned into green space for the public to exercise and relax in while learning about plants and recycling.

Tangerang'€™s Parks and Sanitation Agency head Ivan Yudianto said the construction of the green space started last year and it was now open to the public. Visitors can make use of facilities such as a greenhouse, a mini football field, a fish pond, a jogging track, a mini garden and a waste recycling site.

'€œWe are doing partial renovations in the mini garden and will continue with the construction of an archipelago garden that will accommodate trees from all over the country. Meanwhile, we are trying to educate the public on how to learn to recycle trash into fertilizer and handicrafts too,'€ he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He added that in processing organic waste, the management of the TPA was currently experimenting with coffee waste to produce fertilizer. '€œCoffee waste speeds up trash decomposition,'€ Ivan said as quoted by kompas.com.

The city'€™s efforts to improve its waste management earned it a '€œCleanest City'€ award in 2009 and Adipura Kencana cleanliness awards in 2013 and 2014 from the government. Previously, in 2008, Tangerang was named the '€œDirtiest City'€ by the then environment ministry.