Balangan seeks to overcome the increasing waste

Paringin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The volume of waste produced in Balangan continues to increase and currently reaches 85 tons per day, but only 22 tons (about 25 percent) are wasted to its Batu Merah final disposal (TPA).

"It is estimated only about 22 tons per day are transported to the landfill (TPA) and 10 tons are managed by garbage banks and temporary disposal TPS 3R (reuse, reduce, recycle)," said Head of Balangan Environment Agency Musa Abdullah in Paringin, Tuesday.

The rest is dumped directly into the river, burned, or thrown in the residential neighborhood.

Musa acknowledged most of the waste is not transported due to the limited facilities, including the transportation fleet. Currently, the district has nine units of garbage trucks and tens of containers spread at several points, including in the sub-districts.

”We plan to gradually increase the fleet depending on the available budget," he said.

"The number of waste banks and TPS 3R is still limited. We expected that community to build waste banks and TPS 3R and we are ready to assist. We also will provide an integrated waste processing (TPST), especially in areas where they have waste banks and TPS 3R," he said.

In addition, his party is keen to socializing community-owned waste processing, considering awareness in this matter is still lacking.

"If awareness of cleanliness and waste management is good, surely the volume of garbage will reduce, although not completely," he said.

According to Musa, the capacity of Batu Merah landfill as the final disposal in Balangan is now very safe. “With a closed dump system, it is still enough for the next 10 years, without dumping on the ground. Moreover, we have just added the area of special temporary disposal as a buffer zone, thus it increasing the utilization capacity of Batu Merah final disposal," he said.