Deputy Governor Riza Patria Says The Volume Of Waste In DKI Jakarta Exceeds 80.3 Hectares Of The Monas Area

Officers clean garbage from Sunter River Gate VIII, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta (Screenshot/ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria said the volume of waste transported from rivers in Jakarta from October to December 2021 reached 121,433.53 cubic meters. This number exceeds the area of the National Monument (Monas) which reaches 80.3 hectares and is 132 meters high.

"Investigating an investigation, the accumulated volume of waste in the river for three months can actually exceed the size of the National Monument," said Riza Patria through the Instagram account @arizapatria in Jakarta as reported by Antara, Sunday, February 20.

Based on data from the DKI Jakarta Environment Agency (DLH) during the period from October to December 2021, the volume of waste transported from rivers in Jakarta is equivalent to 2.5 times the Monas building. Riza continued, piles of garbage in Jakarta are one of the main reasons for flooding and most of the waste is plastic.

He invited Jakarta residents not to throw garbage in rivers and participate in managing and sorting waste starting from the household.

"The river is not a trash can. Come on, let's throw garbage in its place so that the river as a flood controller can carry out its duties optimally," said Riza.

While in DKI, as many as 13 rivers divide Jakarta and also function as flood controllers. If rivers in Jakarta are filled with garbage, he continued, it will be increasingly difficult for rivers to function as flood controllers.

Previously, the DKI Environment Agency noted that the volume of waste generated by Jakarta reached 7,424 tons per day and was sent to the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST), Bekasi.

The waste from Jakarta is dominated by food waste (53 percent), plastic (nine percent), residue (eight percent), paper (seven percent), and others.

Meanwhile, the capacity of the Bantar Gebang TPST remains around 10 million tons out of a total capacity of 49 million tons.

Previously, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government agreed with the Bekasi City Government to extend the cooperation in waste management at the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST) for five years or until 2026.

On the other hand, DKI also plans to build four "Intermediate Treatment Facilities" (ITF) in the city to reduce dependence on Bantar Gebang.

One of these ITFs is the North Jakarta Sunter ITF which is targeted to be able to process 2,200 tons of waste per day and can reduce 30 percent of Jakarta's waste which is sent to Bantar Gebang every day.

DKI BUMD, PT Jakarta Propertindo through its subsidiary PT Jakarta Solusi Lestari (JSL) has entered the pre-construction implementation of an intermediate waste management facility or ITF in Sunter which was previously targeted for the end of 2021.