The root cause of the “waste emergency” in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) is that the government has never implemented a serious waste management policy, only to transport and dispose of waste. But it is the people who are always blamed. As long as there is a clear system, infrastructure, and benefits, the community can manage waste well.
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On a sunny Sunday morning (3/9/2023), Muna (12) and four of her friends walked from their house to Al Muharram Mosque in Brajan Hamlet, Tamantirto, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Province. They brought some used gallons of bottled water and placed them on the side of the mosque.
The first Sunday of the month is when the residents of Brajan Hamlet are scheduled to give waste alms that were organized by Al Muharram Mosque takmir (caretaker). Ananto Isworo, the head of the takmir, announces through a loudspeaker in the mosque, “For residents who have sorted their waste, they can deliver their waste to the mosque or contact the waste officer. The time slot is from 8 AM to 11 AM.”
Next to the mosque, waste alms volunteers ranging from children, teenagers to parents deftly sort the waste that has been deposited. They squeeze plastic bottles, fold cardboard boxes, collect metal waste, put it in sacks, and store it in the warehouse. Riding a three-wheeled conveyance, volunteers traveled around to pick up more rubbish from residents’ houses. Muna and her friends help out. “I like [volunteering] because I can help and play,” says Nisa (12). Every time the garbage truck is full, the ‘garbage troops’ deposit it at the mosque. That day they made four rounds.
Passing through dusty alleys, the ‘garbage squad’ stopped at the houses of residents who had prepared their inorganic waste. There were plastic bottles, iron, and even broken televisions. Kasmi Lestari (43) stands in front of her modest house, waiting for the ‘garbage squad’ to pass by. She has been giving away rubbish alms for years. “The proceeds can help underprivileged people, such as widows and poor children,” she said.
Murjiman (56) is another case. He collects his household rubbish and what he picks up on the street around his house. He does not benefit financially, but his habit keeps his neighborhood clean. “I can participate in charity. The proceeds can help people who are hospitalized, Rp500,000 per person, and buy groceries for the poor,” he added.
The Al Muharram Mosque waste alms program is the result of Ananto Isworo’s hard work. Around 2013, he and Triyono—a lecturer at Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UMY) who was the head of the Environmental Section in the village—formulated waste management for alms. The idea did not go smoothly right away because there was a concern that the mosque would become dirty. Ananto started by collecting the waste from the food wrappers used to break the fast. When Ramadan was over, the waste sold for Rp500,000 which he used the proceeds to pay the school fees of eight children from poor families.
Since then, Brajan residents have joined the waste alms program by learning to sort, handing over inorganic waste, and even volunteering. “Al Muharram Mosque is the first mosque in the world to sort waste from its congregation,” says Ananto confidently, nicknamed “ustad sampah (waste preacher)” because he often preaches about waste.
Now the waste collected every first and third Sunday can be sold for between Rp500,000 and Rp800,000. With this activity, for a decade, Brajan residents’ waste has stopped filling the Piyungan Regional Landfill (TPA), which is managed by the Yogyakarta Province.
Piyungan Regional Landfill (TPA) closed
Towards the end of last July, several corners of Yogyakarta City, a favorite tourist destination in Indonesia, were suddenly decorated with piles of garbage. Apart from ruining the beauty, the stench pierced the nose. Piles of garbage bags containing a mixture of food waste (organic) and various plastics (inorganic) belonging to residents have been stacked for days.
The piles of garbage on the roadsides of Yogyakarta went viral on social media, with the keyword ‘garbage terror’. The garbage terror occurred after the Regional Secretary of Yogyakarta Province, Beny Suharsono, issued letter No.658/8312. It stated that the Piyungan Regional Landfill in Bantul Regency was full, so it had to be closed from 23 July to 5 September. As a result, waste from Yogyakarta City, Sleman Regency, and Bantul Regency cannot be taken there. “Please co-operate with the regencies/cities to take steps to handle waste independently in their respective areas,” Beny concluded in the letter.
The Piyungan Regional Landfill (TPA), used since 1996, has an area of 8.2 hectares and can process as much as 650 tonnes of waste per day. The Waste Management Center of the DIY Provincial Environment and Forestry Agency noted that since 2021 the volume of incoming waste has reached 700 tonnes per day. The proportion, 42 % comes from Sleman Regency, a densely populated area, full of boarding houses and restaurants. Second, 34 % are from Yogyakarta City, which is also densely populated and a tourism destination center. The remaining 24 % comes from Bantul Regency.
At the Piyungan Regional Landfill, waste is not segregated. With the landfill system, organic and inorganic waste is dumped, leveled, and covered with soil. The lack of segregation, despite the fact that more than 54 percent of waste is organic, has led to the rapid accumulation of waste in the Piyungan landfill. The sorting system should have started from the source of waste, including from households.
When the Piyungan Regional Landfill was closed, the waste storage depots in the city and regency also closed. Residents who had depended on waste collection and disposal services did not know where to dispose of their waste. The city and regency governments did not have a solution. Residents who have not been educated on waste segregation take shortcuts by dumping waste on the side of the road. Most of the time, this is done secretly. In addition, they burn their rubbish.
In Kotagede, a local waste collector burns rubbish in a barrel in the afternoon. The smoke flies high and sneaks into neighboring house which make breathing difficult. Various mass media reported that air pollution in Yogyakarta worsened after the Piyungan Regional Landfill was closed.
Of course, this situation is troubling. Residents protested through social media accounts and also took to the streets. A group of environmental activists held an action in front of the DIY Governor’s office and continued it at Zero Point (Titik Nol). They unfurled a banner reading “Tirakatan Uwuh (Waste Ascetic Ritual), Jogja Emergency Waste #LetJogjaRecover”.
Under the hot sun, Nur Kholis from Yogyakarta Consumers’ Organisation (LKY) said that the DIY government managed to be special because Yogyakarta has the worst waste. “We are grateful to have a government that is not useful at all,” he shouted during his speech.
The governor of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, blamed the district/city governments that have not established independent waste management, even though they have been reminded before. Quoted from Harian Jogja (25 August 2023), he also invited district/city governments to punish people who litter or burn their waste. “The community itself has been too spoilt, it has been facilitated for decades, once it is closed it is confused, let it be, we also have to educate the community not to be spoilt like that,” he said.
“Is it true that the community is the culprit? It seems that the government also has a hand in creating the waste problem.”
Researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIPOL), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Daud Arie Ristiyono in his article on the detik.com page stated that the largest composition of waste in DIY comes from households (56 % organic) that individuals have the responsibility to manage their household waste. But he reminded us that waste is a structural problem (there is a role for the government) not just individuals. “[So far] the DIY Provincial Government and district/city governments have only done the bare minimum in waste management. They are limited to providing/maintaining TPA/TPS, organizing waste collection services, and making regulations through several local regulations on waste management.”
In the article “Resolving Waste from Upstream” (Kompas.id 14 August 2023), Ahmad Nashih Luthfi—a researcher and lecturer at the National Land College (STPN)—agrees with this structural problem, while there is also a cultural problem, namely the low awareness and good practices of the community in managing waste.
Learning from the community
It would be good if the provincial, district, and city governments learned how to manage waste from communities like Brajan Hamlet. They can manage waste well because there are leaders who are able to show that waste can bring benefits if managed properly.
In Yogyakarta City, there is a Waste Bank “Tangan Uthik” (hands that always move) in Kadipaten Village that can also be a reference. Consistency, dedication, and firmness of the management are the keys to sustainable waste management.
Tangan Uthik is one of the waste banks that was established in 2010 and still survives today. Its coordinator, Sukarsih (57), says it has 70 members but only 22 people regularly deposit their waste. Most of the residents directly give or sell their waste to traveling garbage collectors.
Every Sunday, around 9 AM, members drop off their inorganic waste at Sukarsih’s home and office. Sukarsih then sorts the waste, wraps it neatly, and places it on the terrace of the house, waiting for the vendors to pick it up. For organic waste such as food waste, residents are able to process it into compost fertilizer. By becoming a member of the waste bank, residents have automatically sorted their waste.
Sukarsih then records all types of waste and their prices in the waste bank passbook. The more people deposit their waste, the more their balance grows. On average, each person gets Rp400,000 to Rp500,000 for a year. “Usually they take the money once a year, around Eid,” she said.
Another exemplary example of waste management is in Panggungharjo Village, Bantul Regency. Their village head, Wahyudi Anggoro Hadi, is a visionary in managing waste. He pioneered a waste management system from upstream to downstream. The result can be a source of income for the village.
The initial idea came when he saw the streets in the village full of rubbish. In 2013, he initiated the establishment of the Waste Processing Business Group (Kupas). This business unit processes waste that has been sorted. Organic waste becomes fertilizer. Inorganic waste such as plastic is turned into thermoplastic (a material for making plastic packaging).
The community welcomed this initiative and actively participated. After a year, the waste-sorting activity earned Panggungharjo Village as the national Best Village award in 2014. One year ago, the business was expanded. “The village head saw that our waste sorting business needed to be developed further,” said Salva Yurivan Saragih. In collaboration with the private sector, the village government created a digital application for waste collection services from residents’ homes, called Pasti Angkut (Definitely Pick).
There are three forms of Pasti Angkut waste collection service. Firstly, it picks up the sorted organic waste for free. Second, it buys plastic waste, iron, glass, and other junk. Third, it charges Rp1,500 per kilogram for residual waste, which is unsorted waste and non-recyclable plastic. “This is our way of educating the public to be responsible for their waste,” added Salva, Director of Pasti Angkut.
All waste is brought to Kupas for processing. There is a large hangar-like room to the south of the Panggungharjo Village office where a 30-tonne-per-day waste sorting machine works. There, sanitary napkin waste, a common problem, can be processed into wood substitutes.
To date, Pasti Angkut has around 3,000 clients, 40 percent of whom are residents of Panggungharjo Village. The rest are residents outside the village. Pasti Angkut does open its services to residents outside the village, with a maximum distance of 10 kilometers.
Kupas has helped reduce the amount of waste that must be taken to the Piyungan Regional Landfill. Even when Yogyakarta experienced a waste emergency, Kupas was able to process non-clinical waste from five hospitals in Yogyakarta.
Self-improvement and not blaming the community
The community in Brajan Hamlet, the Waste Bank “Tangan Uthik” in Yogyakarta City, and Pasti Angkut in Panggungharjo Village have been managing waste wisely because there is a system and clear benefits.
Blaming and punishing residents for the waste emergency will not solve the problem. Ahmad Nashih Luthfi agreed with Daud Arie, that the government itself has not been serious in making waste management policies.
Citing the Budget Implementation Document of the DIY Environment and Forestry Office 2023, Ahmad Nashih revealed that the budget for the Regional Landfill in DIY is approximately Rp38.4 billion. The budget for primary needs is very small compared to that for cultural affairs (tertiary), which reaches Rp 755 billion (2012) and Rp 898 billion (2022).
Tenti Novari Kurniawati, Chairperson of Perkumpulan Idea (Idea Association), highlighted that the budget for landfill in DIY, which is only Rp38.4 billion, has only been absorbed by Rp6.6 billion or approximately 17 % as of May 2023. There is still a remaining Rp 32billion that has not been spent until the end of 2023. “The consistency of planning and budgeting policies is still lacking,” she said.
Budget experts say that the size of the budget is one indicator of a serious policy. In the case of DIY Province, in addition to a small budget, absorption for programs is also slow.
According to Law No.18/2008 on Waste Management, the government’s main task is to raise awareness and facilitate the community to reduce, handle, and utilize waste in a participatory manner. There are many policy options, one of which is to prepare infrastructure so that people can sort their household waste.
Waste segregation from the household (upstream) will avoid a repeat of the case of the Piyungan Regional Landfill which quickly filled up, became a source of foul odor, leachate (toxic) water that polluted the environment, and became a center for methane gas (CH4) production.
Sukirno, the lecturer at the Faculty of Biology UGM, said methane gas occurs when unsorted waste is stockpiled continuously. “This gas is maximally formed if organic matter is fermented by negative microbes in an airless or anaerobic situation.”
In a climate crisis situation, waste management sites should not be a source of methane gas emissions, one of the gases that trap the sun’s heat and increase the earth’s temperature. Without our ability to control it, the climate crisis will be the source of all disasters, such as natural disasters, food shortages, droughts, increased cases of vector-borne diseases, and others.
If Yogyakarta is indeed special, the government should implement waste management that can slow down the climate crisis. According to the philosophy of memayu hayuning buwana, which means making the world beautiful, and environmentally friendly.
Editor Teks: Hairus Salim & Aisyah Hilal