T

o reduce the amount of waste thrown into landfills, the Bogor administration and residents have found success by operating temporary dump sites that also function as recycling centers.

With 24 temporary disposal sites in operation, also known as TPS 3R, the city has been able to reduce 5.2 tons of waste per day through recycling.

Bogor produces approximately 700 tons of waste per day, which is dumped at the Galuga dump site.

Established in 2011, the sites have continued to operate well, said Bogor Environment Agency waste management technology development division head Lusi Nurbaiti Badri.

Lusi said the minimum size of a temporary dump site was 200 square meters with a capacity to process waste from 500 families. The administration has only had the budget to build one TPS 3R each year, while no new site will be built this year because of cuts to the budget

The disposal sites are built either by the city administration or by the Public Works and Housing Ministry. Each site is equipped with tools to turn organic waste into compost.

“Local residents manage the disposal sites, and the agency monitors them. We considered it better to let the locals manage them so they would have a sense of ownership,” Lusi said.

Meanwhile, inorganic waste such as bottles and cans were sold to local waste banks as the sites did not have facilities to recycle these types of waste, Lusi said.

However, the TPS 3R program is not only aimed at reducing the amount of waste dumped in landfills, but also about informing and encouraging residents to start sorting their own waste into organic and inorganic.

At present however, residents in only two locations have attempted to sort their waste before depositing it at the local disposal site.

Lusi said 80 percent of residents in Bukit Cimanggu City (BCC) sorted their waste, while almost 50 percent of residents did so in Griya Melati. In other locations, residents still rely on the workers at the disposal sites to sort their waste.

“People think paying dues is enough so it is quite challenging to encourage them to sort their own waste. But we will keep encouraging them to sort their waste and that will take quite a long time,” Lusi said, adding that sorting waste took up 90 percent of the workers time at the disposal sites.

At present, the city administration is building a compost facility to store all compost produced at the disposal sites before it is sold. The site will also have the facilities to convert leaf litter into charcoal.

The agency plans to have the compost facility in full operation by June, as presently it is only able to store a portion of the compost produced at the disposal sites.

Jakarta, meanwhile, which produces up to 7,000 tons of waste per day, directly disposed of at Bantar Gebang dump site in Bekasi, also has TPS 3R facilities.

The Jakarta Environment Agency has recorded that there are 26 TPS 3R throughout the city.

However, only 10 are in operation and most are located either within the agency’s dormitory area or the agency’s housing complex.

The disposal sites are able to reduce around 8.2 tons of waste per day.

Unlike Bogor, the disposal sites were monitored by the ministry, according to the agency’s waste management department head, Rahmawati.

“There have been problems in the field so they have not been monitored recently,” she said, declining to provide details on the problems.

Separately, University of Indonesia environmental engineering expert Gabriel Andari Kristanto said it would be difficult to promote the use of TPS 3R as people were resistant to changing their behaviors.

He said waste recycling and waste sorting were not part of the local culture.

“Also, waste management is not considered a priority here. So a quick solution is always implemented,” Andari said.