Koderi, A Dedicated Methane Collector
For more than two decades Koderi, 57, has dealt with waste and environmental issues. About 100 landfills in a number of regions in Indonesia have felt his “touch”. According to him, there is a big benefit behind every cubic meter of dirty rubbish, which is often seen as a vector of disease.
On Wednesday (Feb. 27, 2019) afternoon, Koderi just finished accompanying one of his students for a final doctoral examination in environmental sciences at Brawijaya University, Malang, East Java. With research about the refuse-derived fuel waste management model, it is closely related to the activities that Koderi has handled.
After accompanying the student, the sociable man returned to his office at the Malang Regency Administration. As a bureaucrat, Koderi is in charge of managing the local environmental service. Outside of his working hours, he deals with activities related to waste.
Koderi did not object to his leisure time on Saturdays and Sundays being spent flying to several areas that needed his contribution, especially for problems related to garbage and, specifically, landfills (TPA).
Finally, in 2018, he was asked to help organize an installation to capture methane gas (CH4) in Kulon Progo and Gunung Kidul (Yogyakarta) and Sukoharjo (Central Java). “This year, there is no landfill that I am dealing with. It’s just yesterday that I was invited to talk about positive energy to increase the capacity of the community in Probolinggo. The participants were 150 representatives from 16 community activist organizations in the area,” he said.
Related to the activities for setting up methane installations at TPA, Koderi has explored a number of areas in the country, such as Tanjung Pinang, Bitung, Manado, Banjar, Banjarbaru, Banjarmasin, Kendari, Sinjai, Denpasar, Majalengka, Cirebon and Semarang. A number of regions in East Java, such as Pasuruan, Situbondo, Banyuwangi and Mojokerto, also use his services.
So far, according to Koderi, he has encountered no significant obstacles in “taming” the landfills in many areas where he is involved. If there is one place with obstacles, it is the TPA Jati Barang in Semarang, which has more challenges because it is a large area with a large volume of waste. In addition, the number of cows that roam the area is a separate threat to the installation of gas pipes.
To the landfills, Koderi offers a simple and inexpensive technology for capturing the methane gas produced by waste so that it becomes a useful substance to help with the daily needs of the surrounding community. Koderi got the gas capturing method from the training and trials he had done before.
“We manage the open landfills with heavy equipment. Then we install vertical and horizontal piping. We put in filters and output piping. We control it so that when we burn it, it doesn\'t pollute the environment anymore,” he said.
Servant of the environment
The success of Koderi in conquering the TPA began when he transformed the Talangagung landfill in Malang Regency, which was originally an open dump and was prohibited by law, into a controlled landfill model, which led to educational tourism. At that time, he was still the head of the local landfill management.
For this success, in 2013 Koderi received the Kalpataru Award from the government in the category of environmental service. At that time, the father of three had only helped handle 17 landfills in a number of regions, including in Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
From Talangagung, Koderi earned a postgraduate degree from Brawijaya University. His thesis on purification in Talangagung led Koderi to obtain a Master\'s degree in 2015. Similarly, the dissertation on the management model of the Talangagung landfill as an educational tourism destination got him a doctoral degree in May 2018, graduating with cum laude.
Besides being shady and attractive, in 2015 the Talangagung landfill won the Top 25 public services innovation award from the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry. At present Talangagung has supplied methane gas to 360 homes around it and is visited by about 10,000 tourists every year.
According to Koderi, there are still many landfills in Indonesia that have not followed the guidelines. Based on data from the Public Works and Housing Ministry, only 5 percent of TPAs have implemented a sanitary landfill system, 15 percent controlled landfills and the remaining 80 percent are still open dumping. According to data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry, only 50 percent of TPAs are managed in accordance with environmental rules.
“Methane gas is hazardous; it is a pollutant. Experts say one ton of methane gas released into the atmosphere is equivalent to 21 to 25 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). From there I thought, because seeing Indonesia like this, I started from Talangagung,” he said.
Apart from setting up methane installations at TPA and teaching at the postgraduate level, Koderi is currently active as a resource speaker for the Public Works Office in Surabaya along with lecturers from a number of universities in Indonesia. He has been doing this since 2010.
For Koderi, garbage is a gift from God that has great potential as a renewable energy source. At this time, according to him, people still have the wrong perspectives on waste so they take no positive actions on it.
Koderi also has a commitment: As long as he is still alive, he wants to continue to do something about waste and the environment. Moreover,
on the academic side, he has responsibility in that field. Koderi said he got a decree from the sky about his work.
“It’s a heavenly decree. There is no paper but it is directly responsible to God so that in the future how to manage the environment and waste can be done better,” he said.
Koderi
Born: Malang, Sept. 13, 1962 Wife: Sri Ratna Pujiastuti
Children: Nadia Kinanti (24), Fajri Hayu Religi (20), Ganang Adi Nugroho (18)
Education:
- SDN Undaan Turen
- STN4 Malang
- STM Nusantara Malang
- Diploma from National Technique Academy Malang
- Bachelor degree from Mechanical Engineering at National Technique Institute Malang
- Master in Water Resource and Environment, Brawijaya University – Doctor in Environment Science from
Brawijaya University
Award: Kalpataru 2013