Household Medical Waste In Jakarta In 2021 Increased By 36 Percent Compared To Last Year

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JAKARTA - Head of the DKI Jakarta Environmental Agency Asep Kuswanto said the amount of medical waste throughout 2021 increased by 36 percent compared to 2020.

Asep revealed, the amount of COVID-19 medical waste found in five city-scale B3 waste TPS locations reached 2,106.65 kilograms throughout 2021. Meanwhile, in 2020 it was recorded as much as 1,538.77 kilograms.

"This year's increase in household medical waste is quite significant in 2021," Asep said during a discussion in Central Jakarta, Friday, December 17.

Asep explained that the DKI Provincial Government has made various efforts to manage medical waste, one of which is by building a regional-based household medical waste management system, namely the sub-district scale and the administrative city scale.

Medical waste collected at the sub-district scale is then transported to a city-scale B3 waste TPS. The transportation of medical waste is carried out by box trucks from the district-scale B3 waste TPS to the city-scale B3 waste TPS.

"So, we built several TPS for B3 waste on a sub-district scale. The shape is indeed not a processing site, but rather a place to store medical waste such as masks, gloves, and so on," said Asep.

"Then, the waste collected at city-scale TPS is transported by a third party B3 waste processing service to the extermination location or incinerator to destroy COVID-19 medical waste originating from households," he continued.

In addition, the DKI Jakarta Environment Agency also manages medical waste in seven isolation places, namely Graha TMII, Graha Ragunan, Nagrak Flats, Cik's Mansion, LPMP Jagakarsa, Hasyim Ashari Mosque Cengkareng, and Wisma Adhyaksa Puri Loka, East Jakarta.

To accommodate the B3 waste, currently there are several TPS prepared by the DKI Provincial Government, namely in the Lenteng Agung, Bambu Larangan, Ciracas, and Ring Reservoir areas.

Meanwhile, PPLI General Manager Yurnalisdel as a medical waste management vendor said that handling massive medical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic requires a common understanding between waste producers, industry players, and regulators.

From the industrial side, he said, waste processing companies must have a strong commitment to processing it properly and not polluting the environment.

"There must be regulations to tighten supervision and enforcement of the waste processing industry. The goal is for the industry to actually manage their waste properly," said Yurnalisdel.