Burangkeng TPA Owned By Bekasi Regency Government Rejects To Be A Location For Disposal Of Campaign Attributes

The campaign props (APK) for the 2024 General Election are installed at the bicycle lane barrier (stick cone) in the Menteng area, Jakarta, Monday, January 8, 2024. BETWEEN PHOTOS-Galih P)

The Bekasi Regency Government (Pemkab) has banned the waste of campaign props (APK) for the 2024 General Election from entering the local government's final disposal site in Burangkeng Village, Setu District. "It is not allowed to enter the Burangkeng TPA, both the APK which is released independently by election participants and the results of controlling officers," said Head of the Bekasi Regency Environment Agency (DLH), Syafri Donny Sirait in Cikarang, Thursday, February 15, as reported by Antara. He said the ban refers to the instructions of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) through a special circular regarding the management of waste for the 2024 election campaign props. On the other hand, it is believed that the waste of campaign props will increase the burden on the volume of waste if it is dumped into the Burangkeng TPA because the condition of the only TPA in Bekasi Regency is now exceeding the capacity or overload. He invited all parties to participate in handling waste originating from the former APK, whether in the form of banners, billboards, or flags, so as not to cause piles of environmental waste and visual waste on the streets. "Because if you look at the materials, the APK is cloth and plastic so that actually it can be used," he said. Donny Sirait admitted that the majority of the waste of campaign props that have been brought under control by election organizers during the quiet period is still stored in every sub-district warehouse. The Bekasi Regency Environment Agency is still looking for other parties who are willing to process or recycle the campaign's prop waste into economic-valued goods. "Meanwhile, the APK waste is still in the sub-districts. We are still looking for parties who can process it into economic-valued goods. Therefore, if you look at the material, it can actually be used," he said.

Referring to data from the general election supervisory agency (Bawaslu) of Bekasi Regency, there are at least 184,000 campaign props installed throughout the region. Bawaslu Bekasi Regency itself has given an appeal to the leaders of political parties and election participants to curb props on the last day of the campaign stage but have not been carried out until a period of calm. Joint officers from the Bekasi Regency Government together with the KPU and Bawaslu then brought order to all the campaign props in question and stored the garbage in each election logistics storage warehouse in each sub-district.