RI calls for ecological repentance to reduce national waste

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Ministry of Environment is encouraging a national ecological repentance movement to reduce the volume of waste produced, which has now exceeded 51 million tons annually.

In a press statement received here on Saturday, Minister of Environment Jumhur Hidayat emphasised the importance of shifting the paradigm of waste management, from upstream to downstream, to reduce the production of millions of tons of waste.

"Ecological repentance is a calling to reflect and shift the way we interact with nature," Hidayat remarked.

According to him, Indonesia is currently facing a waste emergency with 74 percent of the total annual waste volume remaining unmanaged, with the majority ending up in landfills using open dumping methods or being buried and left without sustainable processing.

In fact, the ministry reported that almost all landfills in districts and cities are currently exceed their waste capacity.

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Hidayat then explained the impact of unsorted waste piles triggers the release of large-scale methane emissions into the atmosphere, whose destructive power is estimated to be 30 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide (CO2), the greenhouse gas.

In order to break the cycle of waste collection, transport, and disposal that is driving landfill overload, Hidayat is calling on all levels of society to start separating organic and inorganic waste from households.

He has also instructed his office to implement massive interventions, including the provision of trash bins and tree seedlings to communities in every district and city.

"In addition to integrated waste management aimed at producing compost and industrial fuel (electricity), this pillar of ecological conversion is also carried out through the launch of two billions trees planting program throughout the country," he noted.

The Environment Ministry

is confident that this awareness-driven national movement will support efforts under the Paris Agreement to limit temperature increases to 1.5°C and promote job creation in the green sector.

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Translator: M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari

Editor: Fransiska Ninditya

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