City to build more recycling plants

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration is planning to build another three recycling plants in the city next year, a city official said.

"We're planning to build the three recycling plants in Duri Kosambi (West Jakarta), Pulo Gebang (East Jakarta) and Marunda (North Jakarta)," sanitation agency head Eko Bharuna told reporters at City Hall on Wednesday.

Jakarta currently has only one recycling plant, located in Cakung Cilincing, North Jakarta. The plant has the capacity to process 500 tons of trash per day.

Eko said the city administration had provided 6 hectares of land at each of the sites in Duri Kosambi and Pulo Gebang, while a private company was in the process of acquiring 18 hectares of land in Marunda.

Eko was unable to recall the name of the private company acquiring the land.

"Around Rp 150 million (US$11,111) of investment will be needed to build a plant (using) simple composting technology for 1,000 tons of garbage a day," he said.

He invited the private sector to invest in the plants in Duri Kosambi and in Pulo Gebang.

"So far there have been five private companies interested in the projects," Eko said.

Eko said the administration would be careful in choosing investors for the plants after poor performance by PT Patriot Bekasi Bangkit, the company which has managed the preliminary dump in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi since 2004.

The administration is carrying out a tender to replace the company, whose contract ended last month. The company is still managing the site pending the appointment of a new operator.

Eko also said the city administration would encourage PT Wira Golfindo Sarana, which owns and runs the recycling plant in Cakung-Cilincing, to increase its capacity to 1,500 tons a day by the end of this year.

The city administration pays Rp 60,000 for each ton of garbage processed at the plant.

The plant uses new technology to process garbage into fertilizer and fuel, leaving zero excess waste at the end of the process.

Jakarta produces nearly 7,000 tons of garbage each day. More than 118 hectares of city land is occupied by garbage, but most waste is transported outside the city to Bantar Gebang.

Eko said that the administration was trying to improve the Bantar Gebang dump into a regionally integrated trash processing site.

He said he had also talked to Banten administration officials about building a similar plant in Nameng, Banten.

"The Banten administration has provided about 100 hectares of the 200 hectares of land needed for an integrated processing plant in Nameng," Eko said.