I took this photo in Manado beach (2010 October)
on the way to go to my house
Whenever I look unconsciously at sidewalks, streets or rivers in Jakarta, I have seen this kind of thrown-trash in the road continuously. Until last week, I didn’t know where our trash goes as well as didn’t care what happens to them. Around last week or so, my geography class had to read several articles about serious problems these days in Jakarta. When I got to the point where it explains about the over load of trash, I was extremely shock with the statement, which says “Jakarta wastes Rp 8,000 billion per year on trash” and “More than 22.5million tons of garbage are generated in Indonesia every year”. As I further researched about the trash in Jakarta, according to Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands, trash pickers, the local government and community are collecting 83% of the garbage produced in Jakarta. But the reminder of 17% is just dumped into the river, due to their lack of education. Moreover, all the trash are just dump into the open place, which led to lack of fresh water for future, health issues and negative affects to the species that use the sea floor or river as their place of home. It led up to health issues, because as amount of dumping trash goes up, pollution gets worse, which affects our health; low-class people are using the river as their source of water: showering, cleaning dishes as well as laundering, as people just dump their trash into the river, river will contaminate and led to awful disease to river-water users.
Jakarta International School's trash bin
In Jakarta International School, we have a unique trash bin, which is divided into 3 sections: general, metal/glass & plastic, and organic. It is true that we cannot stop the overload trash problem immediately, however by recycling, we definitely can decrease/prevent the amount of unknown problems that we’re getting in the future. Recycling helps sustain the environment for future generations, prevents pollution caused by the manufacturing of products of virgin materials, and reduces the need for landfilling and open spaces and many more positive effects. So…let’s start recycling! :)
It bothers me as well just how much waste gets thrown into canals, rivers, and other bodies of water. I like to swim and I want my water and beaches to be clean. A lot of it boils down to simple education of the local population. Not just here in Jakarta but in other parts of Indonesia as well as the world. It is also essential, in my opinion, to make trash cans and other bins available to the people. Great use of statistics and I am glad to know you are a little more aware of the issue.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with what you said: the amount of trash found laying around Jakarta is very upsetting and unappealing. And it only takes a couple pieces of trash to instantly can ruin the image of an area in a snap. Those statistics you mentioned are just so shocking. Until recently, I never really put much thought into where our trash is ultimately being disposed to. It's a shame that our nature is polluted by this. Though I do wonder if there is actually a best solution for this issue... :( Recycling definitely is one of the keys in solving the problem! I hope in the future, this issue of trash will start to get better in order to create a cleaner city. :D
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