To trash or not to trash: Recycling in Indonesia

Essentially all Indonesians in my village and surrounding area throw their trash anywhere and everywhere. They are astonished when I whip out a plastic bag and put my ice cream wrapper into it while we are watching a parade. Americans are frequently referenced during our flag ceremonies as hebat (awesome) people who hold onto their garbage until they find a trashcan.

While burning trash is technically illegal, who’s watching? Every afternoon my neighbors use their straw brooms to sweep up the fallen leaves and chucked food wrappers into a little pile and set it on fire. Makes quite the smell some days.

So Indonesian villages have a long way to go in terms of trash collection (cities have garbage trucks that come once a week). However, turns out their recycling is actually WAY better than the US!!

After watching the documentary “Addicted to Plastic,” I can safely say that the US recycling process is not nearly as effective as we are made to believe. 100 billion pounds of plastic produced in the US each year, only about 5% recycled. (documentary statistic) One of the biggest issues is that there are many different kinds of plastic. One plastic drinking could be made of four different plastics: the label, the bottle, the cap, and the safety seal. Plastic cannot be recycled all together like this; the different types of plastics have to be separated first before they can be melted down into a new product.

So that Aquafina water bottle you just recycled? May not end up being recycled at all.

Manufactures have to talk to each other and coordinate the types of plastics they are using so that one product is all one plastic. Then it can be recycled. Perhaps in the future a sorting machine will be able to distinguish between these plastics, but right now, that is not reality. So we’d have to dig through the recycling ourselves and sort it out, pull apart the pieces.

Are you willing?

I can’t name one person I know who’d be willing to sit day in and out for the next 10 years of their life would sift through recycled products all day, rip them apart, and put them in their assorted piles.

But guess what? Indonesians are willing. And it’s a booming business. Started within the last 15-20 years, recycling, or mendaur ulang, has become a huge sector that employees a ton of people. My village and surrounding area are known for its recycling businesses. So I went in literally over my head to take a look.

In front of Indah's house

When people throw trash away, it may be burned or may be put in a pile in the backyard. Allegedly, people walk around and pick up certain items that they want to collect (like bottles or old containers), and sell these to distributers, who then put the mixed plastic items into big white bags.

Enter Ita’s dad. My friend’s recycling business starts with her father, who drives to other kabupatens (counties) in East Java to the distributers. The distributers weigh these bags by the ton and sell them to the small business owners. Ita’s dad returns with a truckful of these big white bags of plastics.

Ita's dad

Could these trucks be any more full!?

Ready to tip ova!

He sells the huge white bags to his acquaintances, including his neighbor and brother-in-law, Indah’s dad.

Next, Indah’s dad hires men and women to work from about 8 AM to 4 PM Monday-Friday to sort through this recycled plastic. Most of it is dirty, as it was picked out of the trash first.

Shoe pile!

The sorting baskets

The bottle basket

The first sorting round is by type of plastic. These lads and lasses know exactly what type of plastic it is by just looking at it. Pretty legit if you ask me. Sometimes the item is mixed, so they have to grab their hand axe and break it apart.

Axe man

Next, they take all the same type of plastic and sort it by color.

The basket is sent to the back of the compound where it is entered into this gas-run machine and ground up into little pieces.

Because the machine requires that the plastic be mixed with water during the grinding process, the plastic bits then have to be dried.

Mas Sovi

After this, they can be put back into big bags and sold back to a collector. This collector will buy from lots of small business owners in order to accrue lots of these sorted plastics and then sell them to the recycling factories, which accept bags that are already sorted with the same material and same colored plastics.

Most every little thing is reused and recycled. For the few things that are not, they are still collected into the official trash pile and then sold again. In my area, brick-building businesses by the garbage to burn as fuel for their brick ovens.

Do we have landfills in my area? Nope. Everything is recycled or burned.

Despite all this trash burning, Indonesians’ contribution to depletion of the ozone is minimal. 2010 carbon emissions estimates one American emits 17.6 tons of carbon dioxide per year, whereas one Indonesian emits 2 tons of carbon a year (source:  United States Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)). 

Salaries:

·      Men who grind the plastic with the very noisy machines earn about 40,000 Rp (~ 4 USD) a day from Indah’s dad.

·      A new, rather inexperienced women who sits and sorts the plastics makes about 20,000 Rp (~2 USD) a day.

·      A more seasoned female sorter makes a maximum of 25,000 Rp (~ 2.5 USD) a day.

·      As a US “volunteer,” I make 66,000 Rp (~ 6.6 USD) a day.

·      New teachers in my village who are not yet certified as civil servants (requires teaching for at least 5 years) may make as little as 10,000 Rp (~1 UD) a day.

Recycled Fashion Show:

My school was recently certified as a “Go Green” school. This means they planted a lot of plants in front of the classrooms and gave every classroom 3 garbage bins. One for organic garbage, one for wet garbage and one for…well, it’s unclear. Some say hazardous waste (it’s a red bin), but what hazardous materials are the students’ bringing to school, I ask? Some say it’s for recyclables. But what that entails is unclear. So despite these three bins, basically I think I may be one of the few people in the school who more or less knows where to sort my trash. Carleton trained me well!

Anyways, to impress the people from the government office that were accrediting us and to motivate the students to…love recycling??...we had a recycled outfit fashion show. Which really meant that each class made 2 dresses and the girls wore them during the parade for our school’s birthday. I was pumped for a runway, but that simply was not in the works.

Viola, Rukhana and Henny (class X-4)

Ririn and Dina (class X-2)

Sovi (IPS I)

Irfa and Lilis (IPS II)

10th grade student, Desi and Ririn 

Ayu (class X-4)

Dian and Iva (IPA)

Luki and Ninik (IPA and IPS II)

Students’ Essays:

My students recently wrote hortatory essays on a topic of their choosing. Most of them wrote about the environment, pollution, flooding, corruption, and drugs. Here are some excerpts of their wisdom on recycling/pollution/trash (also translated as rubbish, dirty, garbage, and just plain dirt by more than one student!). They first wrote outlines in Indonesian, translated them, made a rough draft that I extensively corrected, and then typed it up.

It is very safe to say that these are five of my very, very best students!

Check out their typing, too. It’s an interesting insight into the lack of learning they have had on a) typing, b) punctuation, c) capitalization, things I believe should transcend whatever language is being used. 

GARBAGE

By Lia

Now, cleanliness has become something seldom, because of man people are not attentive impact of rubbish. The fact, that a growing world population, especially in indonesia is increasing waste contributes. Why waste become very important to consider??

First, many people throw rubbish carelesly,lattering and clogging the waterways.  That’s because they still lack awareness  about enviromental sanitation and the threat that is posed by indiscriminate garbage. Need awareness to create change.

Second, trash triggers many problems, such as: flooding, health, and bad impacts  on the water drainage. Therefore , there is a need for socialization in the community about the impact of lattering , such as dangue  fever. Role of goverment is needed here.

Third, trash also disrupts the bauty and comfort of the environment. Because of the garbage strewn everywhere in shelters or trash piles, it’s really very bad to see. Besides, the garbage stench also be quite disturbing.

Put should not be wrapped,so that is does not produce waste.

And than goverments need to provide cleaning supplies,such us organic and non organic trash cans,reguler hygiene monitoring and survising.

Environtment

By Munawir

The rubbish in the public facility should be managed it. Perhaps the environtment has to give laws to people, in order that they them. When the government just does nothing, the government is never clean.

When there’s rubbish trow in the garbage bin, the government will be clean. Perhaps we have to keep a clean environment. With a clean environment, we will feel fresh and relaxed. Society must trow rubbish in t he garbage bin, the yellow colour means the dry rubbish, the red colour means dangerous and the green colour means organic rubbish.

Society can recycle rubbish, in order to decrease it. Plastic rubbish can be recycled to become anything, such as : a bag, a shoes, a hat, etc. it is very benecifial for creative people. The cheap things are changet to become expensive materials.

Organic rubbish can be used for manuare. Organic rubbish can be made fro plants, such as : dry leaves, rotten vegetables and fruits. Organic rubbish is used to manure rice plants, corn plants, etc. organic manure is cheaper than chemistry manure.

In conclution, the government should makes laws for when people trow rubbish in the wrong place. In order that they have a responsibility to the environment and the law. The government must prepare a recycle bins in the public facility. In order that society feels fresher. Perhaps in the clean environment , we can take a breath of fresh. Therefore, we as humans have to prevent littering.

Trash

By Mudria

Trash is one of the of reason for the problem of health in Indonesia. So, please keep the environment from trash. In order that you will be healthier and to avoid accumulation of trash and we make to place throw trash in order that trash not be in the every place.

When people throw trash in the garbage basket, the environment will be more beautiful, because our environment is beautiful, the air which we breathe will taste fresh too. We can refresh our thoughts so that we are far from stress.

Trash is one of the problems happening in our big cities. For example in Jakarta, because multitude of people in Jakarta throw trash in the rivers. Water in the river can’t flow because it is closed by trash. They should not throw trash every where in order. That their place be clean and beautiful.

Trash can be changed into money in the hands of people who are creative. With the procedure, things which are useful, for example newspaper traces, can be changed into blouse which very pretty. The new things can have an expensive value.

In order that our environment be visibly clean and beautiful, the government should give sanction and fines to people who fling trash randomly in order that, they are intimidated and do not repeat that. To avoid accumulation, are before discarding trash. We have to isolate it organic trash and inorganic trash in order to process the trash easily.

The trash

By Irfa

In this era cleanliness should always espesialy the trash problem be reducedbut many people do notknow that it is importaint to throw trash in the tras can beacause theare not used to doing it

If the trash problem in indonesia is reduced pollution will be reduced the trash problem society can small things suchas trowwtrash in the trash can this should be done because pollution can cause trobel healty

Everyone should throw trash in the trash can everyone throwtrash in the trash can. The environment will bne better because trash in the road and publik areas. When there is trash in publik areas everyone will feel happy in the publik areas

They  shouldpay attention to life healty because healt is importaint for  make their life betteer they can start being clean suchas throwing trash in the trash can

The government should maketrash can  spesifically  for the rabbis the government musah process trash so that there isnot bad smell

If government makes the trash canspesifically for  the rubbis  and trash we can reduced  pollution

Drainage System

By Ninik

      The drainage  system should be free of rubbish. Drainage very important  for  the  environment  and our health. If  there is  dirty drainage, it can disturb  our health. If there  is  dirty drainage, the environment will be come bad.

       When the water channel is slowed down by rubbish, it makes a bad smell. A bad  smell  causes  disturbing odors. It makes air pollution, and the drainage becomes dirty.

       Water  channels  that are  full of rubbish can causes floods. Much rubbish in the drainage will disturb health and make floods because the rain  water  I  word  flow. Floods  can  cause  diarrhea. We will not have enough clean water supply and that disturbs our activities.

        If the water channel is clean, the environment will become healthy and beautiful. The air is clean. We should away from floods.

        Everyone should take care of the water channel better. Everyone must  a  clean  environment. Everyone  can  do  reforestation  and  crop rotation. Everyone  have  to throw  the rubbish  in  the dustbin, and not throw the rubbish everywhere. In order to keep the water channel clean, the government and the citizens should cooperate to protect the environment. To cooperate, everyone must build balance between government and the citizens. The government should socialize the citizens about the importance of drainage.