Minister Siti Nurbaya Difficulty Providing B3 Infectious Medical Waste Dropbox

JAKARTA - Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK) Siti Nurbaya issued Circular Number SE.02 / PSLB3 / PLB.3 / 3/2020 concerning Management of Infectious Waste (B3 and Household Waste from Handling Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) ).

In a working meeting with the Indonesian House of Representatives, Siti revealed the progress of the socialization of processing of hazardous and toxic waste (B3) infectious COVID-19 and health facilities in a number of areas.

He admitted that there were obstacles in the provision of one of the facilities and infrastructure for handling medical waste, namely the provision of temporary waste storage, namely dropboxes.

Dropbox is needed to separate medical waste such as PPE (personal protective equipment) and laboratory equipment and samples from ordinary trash to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

Dropbox will be distributed to 55 referral hospitals with 35 units per hospital. Dropbox ships with the medical waste collection plastic.

"Dropbox is a rather rare and somewhat difficult item," said Siti at the DPR RI Building, Senayan, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, June 8.

There are 55 regions that are the target of dropbox procurement. Currently, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has only carried out the dropbox delivery process to 8 regions, including West Java IV, West Java VII, West Java IX, Central Java IV, Central Java VI, West Nusa Tenggara I, Papua, and East Nusa Tenggara II.

Then, there are 17 regions with e-purchasing and e-catalog procurement processes. Then, there are 30 regions that are still in the process of completing administration with providers or vendors.

"There are already vendors but they have not been able to respond and we are pursuing them. Later, July 14 will be intensified in the field," said Siti.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry also procures personal protective equipment for waste management officers. PPE packages are sent separately by dropbox. PPE will be distributed to 55 referral hospitals with a total of 200 per package.

"PPE in the e-catalog is not available in one package and is currently in the process of a quick auction announcement. Meanwhile, in the procurement of spraying or disinfectants for 26 regions, it is in the e-purchasing process," explained Siti.