Managing Waste, Saving the Environment

One of the serious problems that threatens the future of the earth and the lives of mankind is the problem of waste. Specifically, based on facts, humans always produce waste every day. There is no day without waste, as long as human life still exists, waste will continue to exist. National data shows that every year Indonesia actively produces waste. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry in 2023 released data that the waste generated by 321 districts/cities throughout Indonesia was 35,518,824.02 tons of waste per year. Of this figure, 62.91% or around 22,345,340.22 tons of waste is managed and as much as 37.09% or 13,173,483.80 tons of waste is not managed (Source: https://sipsn.menlhk.go.id/sipsn/).

This fact shows that Indonesia is in a waste emergency, so it is very appropriate if then the government needs to take corrective measures in anticipation of the deteriorating quality of the surrounding ecosystem due to waste. One of the good efforts that the government has always promoted is through education, socialization as well as the spread of literacy about saving the environment. Educational efforts to make people wise in treating waste have been routinely carried out by the government. Unfortunately, the culture of people littering still occurs so that the volume of waste is still high. What is really going on?

Source: private document

According to the author's analysis, there are two factors that cause why the waste issue is still a complicated problem in Indonesia? First, the mentality of the people is already dilapidated. The author very often encounters people who casually throw garbage into the surrounding nature such as rivers, beaches, seas, and roadside bushes. The author feels sad to see the incident. But what the heck, the author is self-aware that he does not have the authority to take action-the author is only limited to reprimanding and praying that the person concerned will soon realize that throwing garbage carelessly is a disgraceful act that can damage the environment. 

Unfortunately, the author's hope is just a hope, the act of littering still occurs, unscrupulous waste disposers without feeling guilty lightly return to throwing garbage as they please. The author also made a complaint through the public complaint channel lapor.go.id by attaching photographic evidence of unscrupulous litterers disposing of their garbage which polluted the environment with the expectation that the relevant authorities could take action. Unfortunately, there was no significant follow-up to the complaint that the author submitted. According to the author, it is things like this that make the mentality of citizens deteriorate and continue to underestimate that throwing garbage at will is a common thing that is considered normal.

The government already has the idea of a mental revolution, unfortunately this good thing is like suspended animation, between existence and absence, the impression is only limited to mere jargon so that it has little impact on people's behavior.  Indeed, if the mental revolution is truly ingrained, the author believes that no Indonesian citizen dares to litter. This is because the mentality of the nation's children has truly been revolutionized from being reckless to being disciplined and introspective.

Second. Waste management facilities in the regions are not as conducive and complete as in big cities. Waste piles up and is not managed because of the lack of waste management facilities. For people who have not been educated, instant thinking by throwing garbage into nature, burning it in the open will be a solution when they are confused about what to make of their waste. It will be a different story when waste management facilities exist in an area, say in the scope of the sub-district there is an insenerator, a waste decomposing machine. With the presence of waste decomposition machine facilities, the government can model good practices of ideal waste management so that citizens can see empirically how waste should be managed.

Practically, for the pilot of waste management on a regional scale, Banyumas Regency, one of the regencies in Central Java, has become a role model for other local governments to learn from. However, even though the local government has conducted a comparative study to Banyumas Regency, without being balanced with political commitment and intention to realize serious waste management, for example by presenting waste management facilities in each sub-district, it is impossible for the acute waste problem in the region to be resolved.  Based on this, the government should not hesitate to invest in the procurement of waste management facilities.

Furthermore, as part of the dissemination of insights about the need to process waste in order to create a clean, healthy and safe environment, the author believes that every citizen can be wise with their waste. To do this, residents can process waste independently based on the nature of the waste, whether it is organic waste (biodegradable), inorganic waste (waste that cannot be biodegraded) or hazardous, toxic waste (B3). From this grouping, each resident can further classify existing waste based on its form into solid waste and liquid waste. In addition, residents can further categorize waste based on its source into natural waste, human waste, consumer waste, and industrial waste.

Sorting waste based on its nature, form, and source and processing it in a creative way is a necessity to ensure the sustainability of the earth's future. The easy way to process waste is for organic waste such as food waste, rotten fruit, unused vegetables, leaves, grass, animal waste, residents can process it into compost, eco enzyme which can then be used to fertilize plants, planting media, and animal feed such as black soldier flies which then give birth to larvae or maggots which function to break down organic waste.

As for inorganic waste such as plastic bottles, plastic bags, cans, plastic food packaging, stayrofoam, cartons, textile products such as used fabrics, t-shirts, residents can process them into handicraft products, residents can also sell them to waste banks, waste collectors so that the waste then has an economic value that benefits residents and becomes the raw material for the circular economy between residents, waste collectors, factories considering that the inorganic waste collected will practically undergo a recycling process and produce new products made from recycled waste.

From this activity of processing waste, it is very clear that if waste is managed wisely, the impact is very powerful. Waste that has no value to the naked eye, if processed proportionally, turns out to be very useful for the people who process waste because in reality waste can be an additional source of income - waste can just be collected, weighed and deposited with the waste management company to be replaced with a nominal amount of money equivalent to the amount of waste deposited. With more and more residents processing waste independently, the surrounding environment will certainly benefit greatly. The ecosystem of human life is maintained, rivers, lakes, seas, nature, roads, settlements, public spaces will be clean from destructive waste.

To implement this good hope, the author believes that the government needs to be strict with anyone who is not committed to waste management. Anyone who disposes of garbage as they please needs to be dealt with firmly. Do not hesitate or be afraid to impose sanctions on anyone who is proven to pollute the environment, deliberately polluting nature with garbage. Indonesia needs to emulate Singapore in disciplining its citizens regarding waste. Singapore has succeeded in shaping the character of its citizens not to dare to litter because the Singapore government is really strict in taking action against any Singaporean or non-Singaporean who is proven to be undisciplined in treating waste. Sanctions in the form of fines with a nominal value of 1000 Singapore dollars will really be imposed on litterers. Inevitably, this step makes Singapore the strictest country in the world in matters of waste.

The Indonesian government does not need to be prestigious to adopt good practices that have been implemented by Singapore and have proven to have a positive impact on the birth of a clean, disciplined, healthy, sterile Singaporean country from waste that disturbs the comfort of life. The author is optimistic that with the government's firmness, supported by the government's commitment in spending the state budget to procure adequate waste management facilities and distributed evenly to the regions, the mentality of the community to care about waste will be formed. That way, people will be ashamed to litter, people will independently process their waste, making it an alternative income, and the peak because waste is really well managed, the surrounding environment will certainly be more beautiful, and sustainable. Hopefully!