Municipal Solid Waste

Jakarta, which supports the lives of 31 million people, produces waste that ends up in a landfill called Bantar Gebang and is stretched to 110.3 hectares of land, with the height of garbage reaching 30 meters, becoming the largest waste site in Indonesia. Bantar Gebang receives approximately 6,000 to 6,500 tons of garbage. The mountain of garbage at Bantar Gebang receives waste that contains 65% of organic materials and 35% of non-organic materials from the average 6,000 tons of disposal daily. However, the waste management in Bantar Gebang waste site is still inefficient. The organic waste is mixed with other non-organic waste, causing the methane gas to be trapped inside. This becomes a problem for the people living nearby. Local residents living near the Bantar Gebang landfill frequently expressed their dissatisfaction with the landfill's influence on their environment, including a foul odor, the potential for groundwater contamination, and diseases. Local residents and workers living near the Bantar Gebang commonly express health concerns towards skin disorders, and respiratory issues. In the case of groundwater, it is the effect of the leachate produced in the site. Leachate is the main problem of groundwater contamination which is defined as an aqueous effluent generated from rainwater permeating through the wastes and dissolves the materials from the solid waste. This becomes a great problem as the local residents still utilize the groundwater for daily needs.

We produce solid waste everyday from our daily activities. It is known that the world generates 3.5 million tons of solid waste and is still growing. The growing quantities and the characteristics of the solid waste generated become a concern to the environment and forced us to develop effective waste management strategies. This solid waste i.e. trash or garbage that we see around us, is actually called municipal solid waste (MSW). MSW consists of our everyday items that we used during the day. All of the solid wastes that we come across daily come from different sources. MSW is mostly generated from the residential and commercial sector, which includes clothing, paper, boxes, plastics, furniture, food waste etc.. Both of these sectors produce a large amount of MSW as it is closely related to human daily life. However, the MSW from the agricultural, construction, industrial and institutional sectors also contribute to producing a great amount of solid waste.

Nowadays, the disposal of municipal solid waste goes directly to a landfill site. There are also many great landfill systems applied in many governments around the world that help to reduce risks of contaminations. Nowadays, with the application and development of many modern landfills, it helps to dispose of the solid wastes on land without creating hazards to health and environment or safety e.g. contamination of groundwater and diseases. A great design of landfill to be considered would consist of waste management, landfill management plan, and leachate treatment and disposal. The piling MSW in landfills can also be converted into energy in the form of biogas. To sum up the solution to the problem in Bantar Gebang landfill, it should strictly apply sanitary landfill instead of open dumping, as planned earlier by the local government. In addition, due to increases in municipal waste and limitation of the area, it is also suggested to reduce the waste volume by incinerator and use the heat to produce electricity. We can also start to help manage solid waste at a household level by reducing, reusing and recycling waste to bring down the produce of MSW. It can be done by simply finishing your food, avoiding using plastic bags, and separating types of wastes; composting the organic materials and recycling the inorganic waste.