Dumpsite: An Investigative Look

Shortly after moving to Meulaboh, I asked a naïve question, “What happens to our trash?” The woman who cleans our house giggled and pointed to the wall behind our house. My husband hoisted himself up, peered over the wall and affirmed her claim. In the swamp just over our wall, plastic bottles, juice boxes, Pop Mie containers and toilet paper rolls bob next to the monitor lizards and mosquito swarms. According to Pepen, Program Associate for Waste Management at UNDP, about 30% of Meulaboh’s garbage meets a similar fate and is buried, burned, tossed over the wall or dropped off at the side of the road. The other 70% of Meulaboh’s garbage is systematically collected and ends up in a proper dumpsite.

Although I’ve never had a particular interest in garbage, Pepen invited me to take a behind-the-scenes look at Meulaboh’s dumpsite and the novelty of this invitation was more excitement than I could refuse. I’m not sure what I expected – perhaps a giant mountain of Aqua cups – but the dumpsite offered immediate surprises.

Surrounding the perimeter of the dumpsite were piles of neatly stacked timber. Pepen explained that after the tsunami much of the debris was brought here, including approximately 4,000 cubic meters of wood. Fortunately, the dumpsite is not the final resting place for this wood. The Tsunami Response Waste Management Program (TRWMP) is working overtime to clean and sand every piece with the goal of providing half of the recycled wood to furniture makers affected by the tsunami, while selling the other half to local carpenters. Twenty-five workers are employed full-time using simple tools to pull out nails and sand the lumber by hand. It’s not a fast process (so far only 281 cubic meters have been cleaned), but sanding machines are expected to arrive soon which will greatly speed up this process.

As we moved toward the center of this dumpsite, I was surprised again as I noticed cattle contentedly grazing. I rubbed my eyes and confirmed this, “Are those cows grazing?” “Yes,” Pepen responded with a smile. Apparently, nearly 70% of the waste collected every day is organic. The TRWMP is currently composting about 60% of this waste while the local cows are enjoying the remains (Pepen assured me there are considerably fewer cows since the introduction of composting). Ideally, TRWMP would like to compost even more of the collected organic waste (much to the cows discontent), but at present the compost supply greatly exceeds the demand and the TRWMP is looking for ways to expand their compost market. In the meantime, the workers who process the organic waste are allowed to take it home for their gardens and farms.

The TRWMP composting project is great news for Meulaboh, but Pepen is really hoping that more families will compost their organic waste at home. This will reduce the workload of the garbage collectors and allow them to focus on that 30% of garbage that currently escapes them. Also, although the dumpsite has financial support from UNDP at present, this support will eventually end and programs may have to be scaled back. The impact of this scaling back would be minimal if the organic waste is properly composted at home.

Fortunately, there is a new composting kit on the market that assists families in establishing an effective composting practice at home. Interested individuals can contact Mawardi Husein (081-533-828-06) or find information online at www.kencanaonline.com (Rp 395,000 for a household kit). Or if your organization is involved with organic farming and has suggestions for composting, or requests for the composted material, please contact Pepen at 0812-693-8297 ferhad.alsadad@undp.org.

“But what about the waste that isn’t organic? What are the plans to reduce that?” I asked. Pepen explained that there are no immediate plans to have special trashcans or colored bags for recyclables. But he did note that most of the cans and bottles are salvaged by dumpsite scavengers and resold. For the “My Meulaboh” readers who want to increase the chance that their recyclables are found in the dumpsite and actually recycled, Pepen suggests putting them into a plastic bag and labeling it “Dapat di Olah” (Recyclable). This is also true for organic materials. If you don’t intend to buy a composter, you can simply put your spoiled fruits or vegetables in a bag and write “Organik.”

And if you peek over your wall and discover Pop Mie containers floating in a swamp, feel free to call the Tsunami Recovery Waste Management Program Manager, Dani, at 0852-619-48020 and ask about your trash pickup schedule.