Medan City Government Targets 'Sanitary Landfill' At TPA Terjun To Be Completed In March

The location of the sanitary landfill at TPA Terjun, Medan, North Sumatra. (ANTARA/HO-Diskominfo Medan City)

MEDAN - The Medan City Government, North Sumatra, is targeting the construction of a "sanitary landfill" location at the Terjun final disposal site (TPA) to be completed in March 2023.

"This March, a new TPA that implements a 'sanitary landfill' system has been completed," said Head of the Medan City Environment Service, Suryadi Panjaitan, as reported by ANTARA, Sunday, January 30.

The development process, he continued, was progress on about four hectares of land in waste management in the capital city of North Sumatra Province.

This system will reduce the potential for environmental disturbances which periodically pile up waste using the soil, thus making the surrounding area unpolluted.

Medan City Government in 2018 at TPA Terjun implemented an "open dumping" system, and since last year improvements have been made by implementing a "sanitary landfill" system this year.

"You can come and see TPA Terjun now. Doesn't it smell anymore? I don't think so. I just got to the top from there," he explained.

Suryadi said that the "sanitary landfill" system is very useful for reducing odors generated from waste, because it decomposes in the ground.

In simple terms, this system disposes of waste in a sunken location, then compacts it and fills it with soil.

Data from the Medan City Environment Service show that the capital city of North Sumatra will produce around 2,000 tons of organic and inorganic waste in 2021 per day.

"This technique also inhibits the wasting of methane gas into the air which is the source of the odor from rotting garbage," said Suryadi.