The city administration of Depok, Indonesia has been trying to minimize the density of waste going to the city’s overloaded landfill. The Head of Depok Environment Agency, Ety Surhayati, stated that one of the strategies to minimize the waste going to the landfill is to optimize the waste processing facilities.
In 2019, Depok manages 30 Waste Processing Facilities (WPF) aiming to minimize the waste going to the landfill. “We are committed to adding more of the facilities because they really help us reducing the waste.” Depok produces 1,300 tons of waste everyday and only 700 tons went to the landfill. The rest was processed at WPFs around the city. Every year, one WPF can produce five tons of compost distributed freely to the citizens.
Depok is the first city in Indonesia implementing the sorting of waste at household level. The administration also encourages restaurants and supermarkets to implement the waste sorting at their sites before pick-up. “The city has signed a number of MoU encouraging them to sort their waste at their sites before the scheduled pick-ups. We hope that this massive socialization will increase the people’s awareness on waste sorting before disposal,” added Ety.
A community leader in Sukatani, Depok area, Heru, said that the local WPF which started operating in 2008 played an important role in minimizing the volume of waste. “Every month, we produce 1 ton of compost originated from organic waste of the surrounding citizens.” He invited Depok citizens to freely take the compost produced. “Whoever wants to make use of the compost produced here can submit a request letter to the Office of Environment.”
