Page 6 - MEDIAJAYA 2 EDITION 2020

TOP REPORT Resolving The Waste

Issues in Jakarta

The consumption pattern and lifestyles of
the communities in Jakarta has put a great
deal in the waste issues in our Capital city.

ears ago, people in Batavia and many oth-
er places in the Archipelago used tree leaves
6 Yto wrap their foods. Entering the 1990s, it
became hard to get leaves wrapper, especially in
Jakarta. People started to use paper and finally
turned to use plastic.
Plastic factories had actually existed in Jakar-
ta since the 1960s. In the beginning, they only pro-
duced sandals and household equipments made
of plastic. It was because of the changing lifestyle
and consumption patterns of the communities
that made the production gone wild. They started
to produce straws, food wrappers, bags and many
other things made of plastics.
Unfortunately, the uses of plastics had accu-
mulated and resulted in mountains of waste that
poluted our city. In Jakarta, plastic waste alone
has contributed to 14% of the total waste vol-
ume which came from the neighborhood. The rest tion pattern affects greatly on this. The
came from the leftover of foods, vegetables and waste problem will be greater in the
fruits, leaves, wood, papers, industrial waste and city regarding its changing consump-
many more. tion pattern. For example, we will pro-
Professor Sudradjat in his book Mengelola duce great numbers of waste when
Sampah Kota—Regulating City Waste said that we buy foods along with its containers
waste has long been such a great environmental and single-use eating utensils.
problem for a packed city like Jakarta. He who re- People in the downtown areas are
ceived Doctoral honor in Environmental Biotech- more likely to provide packaged drink
nology, University of Ghent, Belgium explained to serve their visitors, instead of using
that the problem is linked with the population the regular, washable cups or glasses.
growth rate, economic growth and also the chang- The same thing happen to street food
ing consumption pattern. The changing consump- sellers.