Bekasi Emergency Garbage, Regent Salahkan Warga Awareness Minim

The portrait of the level of public awareness is still minimal by throwing garbage into the Ciwekabang River in North Cikarang District, Bekasi Regency, West Java. (ANTARA)

BEKASI - The Bekasi Regency Government, West Java, is committed to realizing various resolutions for handling waste as an effort to prevent waste emergency in the area in early 2023.

Bekasi Regent Dani Ramdan said a special strategy was needed for handling waste considering that geographically Bekasi Regency is a downstream area with a total of 600 tons of waste per day entering the Burangkeng Waste Disposal Site (TPA).

"In addition to the large volume of waste every day, public awareness to process waste is also still minimal," said Dani Ramdan, quoted by ANTARA Monday, January 30.

Dani said that so far the waste management strategy has been carried out by continuously boosting the Bekasi Regency Environmental Service (DLH) waste officers.

"Our officers, Monday to Friday transported garbage from residents' homes, from the market and from the factory. Meanwhile, Saturday and Sunday they transported garbage from the river, and so. Because a week was missed, the garbage was full," he said.

The Bekasi Regency Government in 2023 has launched the construction of a waste processing and collection installation in a total of 16 river flows which are indicated to often be used as a waste disposal site.

According to him, making residents aware not to throw garbage into the river is not easy, it takes months to socialize, even the application of sanctions has not yielded optimal results.

"Given sanctions and so on is also a bit difficult. Besides Bekasi, it is indeed a downstream area, where garbage from upstream is also carried away," he said.

The local government is preparing more than two hectares of land to expand the Burangkeng TPA land so that it can accommodate temporary waste in at least the next year while preparing the concept fundamentally with a source processing strategy.

"In 2024 Bekasi must already have a more basic solution because if it only adds to the area, it does not solve it fundamentally. We will make two strategies, waste at the Burangkeng TPA is processed, waste from sources (houses) is also reduced," he said.

His party will also encourage this processing by building integrated waste processing sites at the sub-district, village or sub-district level, to waste banks at the RT/RW level.

"It will continue to be intensified so that it is hoped that it will be able to reduce the volume of waste in the Burangkeng TPA," he said.

The waste recycling scheme produces economic value such as the cultivation of magazines, compost, and creative economy products will also be pursued in order to be able to get maximum results but require a change in the basic attitude of the community.

"The habit of sorting waste from the house. This is a bit difficult, but some RWs have been successful because there is a waste bank, so mothers at home have started, special organic waste, thrown away every day, non-organic waste once a week," he said.

Dani said that Burangkeng waste, which has been piled up for 20 years, can also be used as a source of energy.

"In theory, it could be electric power, it could also be briquettes to replace coal, so for us the study is more of a briquette," he said.

This program is being pursued to synergize with investors who are able to buy machines for processing factories into briquettes with parties who will buy briquettes.

"Because the volume is large, if we can only produce but we can't sell it, it's useless. There must be three parties, hopefully in the near future there will be investment, for factory installations, next year or two more years this factory will be running, so this could be a long-term solution," he said.