Communities’ Tireless Struggle to Manage Garbage in Magelang City

Name: Communities’ Tireless Struggle to Manage Garbage in Magelang City
Uploaded: 2022-11-11T02:27:58Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: With a low awareness in residents of sorting and processing garbage, the administrators of garbage banks in Magelang City, Central Java, are never tire of fighting.

With a low awareness in residents of sorting and processing garbage, the administrators of garbage banks in Magelang City, Central Java, are never tire of fighting.

REGINA RUKMORINI

· 5 minutes read

Three women gathered on the terrace of a house in North Jurangombo village, South Magelang district, Magelang City, on Tuesday (18/10/2022). In front of them, hundreds of bottles and used plastic wrappers were scattered. Carefully, those women, who were administrator of the Bougenville Garbage Bank, sorted the waste according to type.

To be effective, they shared duties. Suryani (49) was in charge of sorting bottles according to type. She also cleaned the liquid that was still left in the bottle. The liquid was put in a special container.

Meanwhile, Sri Mulyati (53) was in charge of removing the labels and bottle caps. The two components were separated into a special container as well. The bottles that had been cleaned with the labels and caps removed were then put into sacks.

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Sorting plastic waste is a routine activity carried out by the management of the Bougenville Garbage Bank in North Jurangombo village. This sorting must be done to increase the selling price of plastic waste. "These completely clean bottles can be sold at a higher price than bottles that are still dirty," said Sri.

As an illustration, clean mineral water bottles can be sold at a price of Rp 3,000 (19 US cents) per kilogram. As for bottles that still have water in them, they only sell for Rp 2,000 per kg.

Established in 2015, the Bougenville Garbage Bank now has 96 customers. In accordance with its mission, the management is aggressively inviting local residents to sort and manage waste properly. They also try to explain that waste that has been sorted can have a higher selling price.

However, the invitation to sort out the waste has not yet been fully accepted. There are still many people who are reluctant to manage their waste. "Sometimes, we receive mineral water bottles that are still half full," said an administrator of the Bougenville Garbage Bank, Enti Sri Hardani (60).

Even so, the management of the waste bank have not just given up. Not only are they waiting for the garbage to be deposited from the community, they are also willingly "picking up" the waste from a number of parties.

Enti said that the management of the Bougenville Garbage Bank diligently went around shops and food stalls offering to collect garbage. They also did the same for food hawkers. This is not only carried out in the North Jurangombo area, but also in other areas in Magelang City.

"We can resell the plastic and paper waste, while we can use organic waste to make compost, eco-enzymes or maggot feed," said Enti.

There are at least four shops and food stalls that deposit their waste to the Bougenville Garbage Bank. A number of hawkers also sometimes help to collect garbage. In addition, Enti admitted that he often received calls from residents of other areas who wanted to sell garbage. If they had trouble carrying the trash, the Bougenville Garbage Bank was ready to pick it up.

The readiness to receive waste from several areas is also shown by the Maju Lancar Garbage Bank in South Tidar village, South Magelang district. Initially, the garbage bank was only intended to serve local residents.

However, because the signage was installed on the side of the main highway in Magelang City, many residents from other areas deposited their garbage with them.

"We often get garbage brought by residents from Secang district and Mertoyudan district, Magelang regency," said director of Maju Lancar Garbage Bank, Jumarlan (61).

Unwilling to sort out

Since its establishment in 2014, Maju Lancar Garbage Bank has received all kinds of waste, both organic and inorganic. The inorganic waste received is also very diverse, including plastic bottles, paper, used clothes as well as used mattresses and cupboards.

So, they let the garbage get mixed up because there are officers who pick up the garbage.

Jumarlan explained that all incoming waste was sorted according to its type. Inorganic waste, such as plastic bottles and paper, was usually sold to the main waste bank, which is under the auspices of the Magelang City Environmental Office (DLH). Meanwhile, organic waste was usually processed into compost.

However, Jumarlan admitted, despite various efforts, there were still many residents who were reluctant to sort their waste properly. Most people just wanted to pay a fee so that the garbage in their house was transported. "So, they let the garbage get mixed up because there are officers who pick up the garbage," he said.

Meanwhile, the administrators of the Edellweis Garbage Bank in South Rejowinangun village, South Magelang district, are aggressively inviting residents to reduce the waste they produce.

The person in charge of the Edellweis Garbage Bank, Fatmawati, said that these efforts included, among other things, no longer using cardboard and plastic packaging for consumption at community gatherings. "We choose to use plates and cups that can be washed and used again," she said.

Fatmawati added that the management of the waste bank also often collected waste from celebrations or other events. They usually took the waste to the secretariat of the Edellweis Waste Bank to be sorted and managed. "We also often do this habit when we attend celebrations or other events outside the city," she said with a laugh.

The head of the Magelang City DLH Waste Management and Handling Division, Widodo, said mobilizing residents to minimize the volume of waste and sort waste from home was still difficult. This was because the mindset and habits that have long existed in the community.

However, these waste banks are slowly changing this so that people's awareness in managing waste, one day, can be fully realized.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo

Editor:

NASRU ALAM AZIZ

magelang garbage waste waste bank garbage bank jurangombo organic waste