The Bandung city administration in West Java has been working hard to tackle its waste problem following the Leuwigajah dumpsite (TPA Leuwigajah) tragedy in 2005, in which 147 people died after being buried under a waste avalanche. The Jakarta Post’s Arya Dipa reports on his observations of Bandung’s waste management in today’s Special Report.

Following the 2005 tragedy, the administration of Greater Bandung, which covers Bandung city, Cimahi city and West Bandung regency, has relied on the Sarimukti dumpsite (TPA Sarimukti) in Cipatat, West Bandung regency, as its primary waste disposal site.

City-owned sanitation company PD Kebersihan Bandung director Gungun Saptari said various attempts had been made to handle the city’s waste, ranging from the designation of garbage-free zones to the creation of zero waste city models in eight of Bandung’s 151 subdistricts. One program that has been seen as a breakthrough is Kang Pisman, an acronym for kurangi (reduce), pisahkan (sort out) and manfaatkan (utilize).

A pilot program has been trialed in community units (RWs) in Sukaluyu and Neglasari subdistricts. Bandung Mayor Oded M. Danial believes the concept is applicable to Bandung, which does not have a TPA of its own.

The head of the Bandung Environment and Sanitation Agency’s waste control technical cooperation division, Deti Yulianti, said the city administration had allocated Rp 108 billion (US$7.57 million) annually to PD Kebersihan Bandung for waste collection from public facilities and waste transportation from intermediary dumpsites (TPS) to TPA Sarimukti.

“The funds exclude the cost of final processing, so we spend another Rp 30 billion. When the waste is processed at Legok Nangka, there will be a load hike in the 2022-2023 financial year, increasing the total to Rp 210 billion,” said Deti.

The Legok Nangka waste processing site (TPPAS), will be operated by a private company under a government-business enterprise cooperation scheme. Based on a feasibility study, TPPAS Legok Nangka will have a processing capacity of 1,800 tons per day. “The waste processed is estimated to be about 1,200 tons from Bandung city, 300 tons from Bandung regency, 150 tons from Cimahi city and the rest from West Bandung, Garut and Sumedang regencies,” added Deti.

Efforts to reduce garbage, including the Kang Pisman program, are regulated under Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No.97/2017 on national policy and strategy for management of household waste and similar waste. In general, this policy targets to reduce waste by 30 percent and achieve a waste handling target of 70 percent by 2025.

Bioscience and Biotechnology Development Foundation (YPBB) director David Sutasurya has questioned these targets. Furthermore, David said the Environment and Forestry Ministry had designated regional waste management policies and strategies as criteria for the 2019 Adipura Trophy for city cleanliness, which he said was a burden for cities like Bandung, which do not have a TPA.

“Regional administrations tend to follow the national template without examining whether there are technical directives to achieve the targets.

Perpres No. 97 incorrectly defines waste management and waste reduction, as waste management is supposed to be the domain of the government, while reduction of waste [generation] should be done by the public,” noted David, referencing Article 12 of Law No.18/2008 on waste management.

All of this has caused confusion among regency and city administrations over how to meet the 30 percent waste reduction target and the 70 percent waste handling target by 2025. Perpres No. 97, said Deti, did not provide technical instructions for city administrations to meet the set targets.

Deti explained that Bandung generated an average of 1,500 tons of waste daily. If the 30 percent reduction target is to be achieved, the city administration will have to decrease its waste generation by 450 tons per day with the infrastructure currently available in Bandung.

Today, with 140 TPSs in Bandung, if the 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) method was applied for composting, biodigesting and processing waste, the city would only be able to reduce its organic waste by 50 tons. “A breakthrough is thus needed to reach the target,” said Deti, who also noted to the city’s present waste handling capacity of just 191 tons per day, a far cry from its 1,500 tons output.

Each year, the city administration can only afford to fund the restructuring of 15 TPS. After three years, only 10 TPS have been equipped with 3R facilities. For 2019, the head of the Bandung Environment and Sanitation Agency’s waste division, Sofyan Hernadi, has allocated around Rp 3 billion for this purpose.

The agency has identified that of the city’s waste generation, 45 percent is composed of organic waste like food leftovers, 31 percent of recyclables like paper, cardboard and food and beverage containers and 24 percent of residual waste that is not recyclable or biodegradable and is taken to TPAs, such as used diapers, polystyrene and sanitary napkins. “So the waste has to be sorted,” Deti said.

Over the last several years, the city administration has cooperated with its Kawasaki city counterpart in Japan and the Mother Earth Foundation from the Philippines, which supports the YPBB to achieve zero waste cities. Based on her survey of Kawasaki, Deti deemed it necessary to make Bandung residents aware of the waste reduction movement.

Mechanization: An Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier operates a front-end loader to remove the mounting garbage along Jl. Cikutra in Bandung, West Java, on June 7, 2006. The garbage had not been collected for months following the collapse of a landfill facility at the Leuwigajah dumpsite in Cimahi.(JP/Arya Dipa)

The Kawasaki city administration started a waste reduction campaign in the 1970s by seeking residents’ support to combat a waste emergency.

The first step taken by the Kawasaki administration, Deti recalled, was to promote its waste collection service to residents, who were asked to separate plastic bottles from other trash. The program began in one zone at the subdistrict level before eventually expanding across the whole city.

The following year, residents were instructed to separate cans and various other kinds of rubbish. “Lastly, they picked mixed paper and similar items like cardboard, followed by separating plastic bottles from their caps,” said Deti. A lack of available land prompted the Kawasaki administration to use incinerators to eliminate its waste. After initially using four incinerators, only two are currently in operation.

“In 1990, the first incinerator was closed because the amount of waste had been reduced after sorting. The plastic that has been sorted and crushed is now distributed for free to plastic processing units, meaning the infrastructure needed has been prepared,” Deti indicated, adding that Kawasaki recycled 30 percent of its total waste.

To ensure a clean environment, the Kawasaki administration conducts tight monitoring of the incinerators. However, despite a budget of Rp 137 trillion, the administration can only measure the levels of toxic dioxin every three months.

“Bandung’s regional budget only totals Rp 7 trillion. While, despite such a big budget [in Kawasaki], dioxin measurement is still considered expensive,” said Deti, who has refused to use incinerators as part of Bandung’s waste management strategy.

Drawing on the lessons from Kawasaki, the Bandung Environment and Sanitation Agency has tried to coordinate with garbage collectors at the RW level by proposing they be offered government-paid salaries. Garbage collectors are currently paid from residents’ contributions. Garbage collectors are in charge of gathering and taking waste to local TPSs, where it is handled by the city administration.

Sofyan argued a government salary system would make garbage collectors responsible for delivering sorted waste to TPSs. However, to pay a monthly salary of Rp 1.38 million for two collectors for each RW, the city administration would require an annual budget of Rp 50 billion. “This budget proposal was rejected by the city council,” said Sofyan.

Therefore, it is necessary for Bandung to pursue a zero waste strategy that begins with garbage being sorted at its source. This method proved successful in overcoming the problem of waste accumulation in Quezon City in the Philippines, after a waste avalanche at Payatas dumpsite on July 10, 2010.

The difference is the Philippine government issued Republic Act 9003, obligating all subdistricts to collect sorted waste and procure material recovery facilities (MRF). City administrations in the Philippines are also responsible for the transportation of residual waste that is unable to be composted or recycled, while the public is prohibited from burning garbage.

If a household fails to sort its garbage it is given a warning and required to attend zero waste training. If violations continue, the house owner is subjected to a fine of 500 Philippine pesos ($9.62). The minimum daily wage in the Philippines is 400 Philippine pesos. For a second violation the fine is increased to 2,000 Philippine pesos and to 3,000 Philippine pesos for a third violation.

The Mother Earth Foundation has provided guidance for people in Fort Bonifacio, a Metro Manila subdistrict with a population of 15,000.

“Three months after joining the zero waste program, what used to be a dumpsite is now an eco-park and an MRF,” said Mother Earth Foundation president Froilan Grate. The foundation has also assisted Bandung with it garbage-free zone program for several years.

Grate, who is also Coordinator of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives Asia Pacific, added that within three months, 95 percent of Fort Bonifacio residents were actively sorting their garbage. The need for garbage transportation has since declined, with the number of trucks used down from five to only one per day.

The utilization of MRFs by emphasizing the concept of a circular economy has also benefited garbage collectors, with 17 collectors in the area now earning $186 per month, a significant increase from their previous monthly earnings of around $70 before waste sorting was implemented. This concept will be followed by the YPBB to implement sustainable waste management in Bandung.

As part of the effort to create zero waste zones, the YPBB has conducted waste analysis and characterization studies (WACS) in the areas being assisted. This method has helped identify waste volumes and average waste generation per person as well as to identify product origins through brand audits of the waste.

From March to September 2017, the YPBB conducted WACS and brand audits in Sukaluyu and Babakan Sari subdistricts of Bandung city, as well as in Parungserab village in Bandung regency and Setiamanah subdistrict in Cimahi city.

The WACS results from the four areas found the average waste generation per person was 0.2 kilogram per day, despite the different economic status of the people surveyed. The composition of waste varied, with food leftovers accounting for 43.09 percent of waste in Sukaluyu and 55.63 percent in Setiamanah.

The brand audit in the four areas involved collecting 8,101 items, comprising plastic and sando bags, plastic equipment, plastic wrappers, bottles, cutlery and cups. Of the items, 2,932 samples, or 36.2 percent, were non-branded plastics, comprising handle-less sando bags, clear plastic bags, straws, plastic cups and items from eateries.

A further 238 samples, or 2.94 percent, were food wrappers that contained no data about the producer, mostly consisting of local products that were either homemade or manufactured by small-scale industries. Households discard such rubbish daily, and are the only ones capable of reducing its accumulation.