Indonesia Municipal Solid Waste : Regulations and Common Practice

Indonesia is located in South East Asia, which consist of more than 17,000 islands with a total population of 237,424,363 in 2011 census. The country is divided into 34 Provinces, and five of them have special status. The provinces are subdivided into cities (Kota) and regencies (Kabupaten), which are further subdivided into districts, and again into administrative villages. Moreover, the village is divided into community groups (RW) which is consist of neighborhood groups (RT). According to Act 18/2008 about Waste Management, municipal solid waste management in Indonesia, is a government responsibility.

Article 28H paragraph (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia Year 1945 gives the right to each person to get a safe and healthy environment. The Constitution mandated the government to oblige for providing public services in the waste management sector. It carries legal consequences that government is responsible in the field of waste management although in the management and operations government could partnering with business entities. Furthermore waste organizations and community groups engaged in the waste can also be included in the waste management activities.

Indonesia has two main regulations relating waste management, Act 18/2008 about Waste Management and Government Regulation 81/2012 about Domestic Waste and Domestic Waste-like Waste.

Act 18/2008 about Waste Management has mandated the need for fundamental changes in current waste management. In accordance with Article 19 of Act 18/2008, the waste management are divided into two principal activities, waste reduction, and waste handling. Section 20 outlines the three main activities in the implementation of waste reduction activities, reduction of waste generation, recycling, and utilization of waste. Those activities are a manifestation of the principles of environmentally sound waste management called the 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle). Article 22, outlined five main activities in the implementation of waste management activities include segregation, collection, transportation, processing, and final disposing of garbage.

Domestic waste management and domestic waste-like waste activities mandated by Act 18/2008 determine that the whole society will be served and all the waste that generated will be sorted, collected, transported, processed, and treated in the spot final processing.

With the enactment of Act 18/2008 on Waste Management, former waste management policies which for more than three decades only rely on the approach of end of pipe using landfill, was changed into reduce at source approach and resource recycling through the application of the 3Rs. Therefore, the whole society is expected to change the outlook and treating waste as resource alternatives as far as possible be recovered, either directly, the recycling process or other processes.

Five stages of handling, segregation, collection, transportation, processing, and final disposing of garbage were carried out by the whole society, gradually and well-planned, and based on clear policies and strategies. Government and local government in accordance with its authority plays a significant role in implementing Act 18/2008. In this regard, Government Regulation 81/2012 about Domestic Waste and Domestic Waste-like Waste is drawn up in order to protect public health and environmental quality, reduce the occurrence of accidents and disasters related to the management of household waste and similar household waste, as well as supporting sustainable economic development. In addition, Government Regulation 81/2012 about Domestic Waste and Domestic Waste-like Waste is also expected to be a reference in formulating local regulations and masterplan.

The general method in current Indonesian waste managements is collect-transport-dispose. The authorities of waste management transport waste from collection points to a treatment facility or final disposal. Most of the local authorities is undergo changes from open dumping to sanitary landfill.

Municipal solid waste management for each regencies or cities is the local authority’s responsibility. Usually, they will only handle transportation from collecting point to landfill. Sweeping and collecting from house to house is the responsibility of local RW (community group) and/or RT (neighbourhood group). RT/RW will create and fund their own scheme to collect the waste and bring it to collecting point. Typically, they will hire persons to collect waste from house to house using handcart. These person will be paid by RT/RW management who collect the money from neighbourhood. They also will generate additional income by selling recyclables from people wastes. Waste container from each houses are provided by individual themselves. Handcart for collecting purpose is provided by collected fund from neighbourhood. Wastes in collecting point is not separated. Organic, plastic, paper and even hazardous waste such as battery are mixed together. Sometimes, scavengers are seen searching for recyclables in collecting point.

Local authorities will transport wastes from collecting point using 15 to 20 m3 open truck. This kind of truck cause environmental problem such as bad smell and overflowing leachate. There are several method which commonly used to transport the waste.

• Temporary collection: Container will be placed in collecting point overnight and people will dump their waste there. Truck will come to carry those container and replace them with empty one.

• Direct Transportation: Dump truck will come to collecting point several times a day to transport waste to landfill.

• Transfer station: This facility have machine to increase waste density. Special truck will carry high density waste to landfill.

Most of cities and regencies in Indonesia rely on landfill as a back bone of their municipal solid waste management. Some remote area which didn’t receive services, handling their waste in various waste such as, burning, composting, burying and etc. Figure below show waste handling trend in Indonesia in 2006.

Landfilling tend to develop problem in many way. Because of low budget, most of local authorities only provide open dumping site for landfilling. Without serious monitoring, pathogenic and hazardous waste from industry also slip thru the security and dumped in landfill. Scavengers and cattle also swarming in this unhealthy and unsafety area. Almost everyday people get killed because of waste avalanche in landfill area.

Leuwigajah Landfill Landslide

Leuwigajah landfill is landfill area that served Greater Bandung Area which is located is Cimahi City, 12 km from the centre of Bandung City. Leuwigajah Landfill are managed by West Java Provincial Government as a regional landfill. From the 23.5 Ha of its area, 17 Ha is allocated for Bandung City municipal solid waste. Bandung City deliver 3000 m3 of its waste per day to this site.

The landfill was constructed in the valley on the outskirt of the forest. The original design was to perform sanitary landfill in this area, but because of budget cuts, the authority only perform controlled landfill. That’s why bad smell and leaching occurs and pollute the surrounding area. The failure happened on February 21st, 2005. Prior to 3 days of heavy rain, 2.04 million m3 of waste coming down like avalanche through the valley. This accident killed 143 residents and the loss is up to 5 million USD. After this accident, government started to think more seriously about waste management and treatment.

Recommendation for a better waste management in Indonesia

Waste management in Indonesia is created based on 5 aspects; Regulation and Policy, Stakeholders, Technical and Operations, Financial and Public Participation. Current regulations is not enough to set things clear. The integration of socio-culture and socio-economic aspects are needed in order to support the management. This is mean that Indonesian need to changes their attitude towards waste. We couldn’t longer seen waste as a filthy things, but waste should be treated as resources. Collaboration between whole aspects of society is needed. Framework to realize this collaboration is needed. This framework will describe the relation between people, NGO, government, mass media and corporation so they will have distinct contribution for the waste management. This framework also explain master plan for people behavioural changing. Various method from education to socialization are needed to civilize people. By realizing this framework, people will see waste management as part of their culture and economic activity.

References

SME (2004) Solid waste statistic year 2008. State Ministry of Environment in Indonesia.

Damanhuri, E (2014) Municipal Solid Waste Management in Indonesia, Municipal Solid Waste Management in Asia and the Pacific Islands, Environmental Science and Engineering, Springer-Verlag, Singapore.

Act 18/2008 about Waste Management, Indonesia Government.

Government Regulation 81/2012 about Domestic Waste and Domestic Waste-like Waste, Indonesia Government.

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