Waste picker says crackdown could threaten Bantargebang livelihood
Long before dawn breaks over Indonesia’s largest landfill, Nur Wencih joins thousands of waste pickers climbing mountains of garbage, searching for anything they can sell. The 35-year-old widow has worked at the Bantargebang site on Jakarta’s eastern edge for two decades, following her parents, who still earn a living there.
Wencih said she fears a sweeping government crackdown on open dumping could threaten the livelihood that has supported her family for two decades, the Washington Post reported.
Living alone in a rented room near the landfill, Wencih earns about 200,000 rupiah ($12) on a good day collecting discarded toys, cardboard and plastic bottles before bulldozers bury them beneath fresh waste. Occasionally, she finds gold jewelry.
“It feels like hitting a jackpot,” Wencih said while taking a break from the sweltering July heat.
Her two teenage daughters live with a relative in a rural village, away from the landfill. She said she hopes the money she earns picking through garbage will give them a different future.
The landfill has supported generations of waste pickers. Wencih’s parents, now in their later years, still work the garbage mountains alongside her. Bunin, a 53-year-old neighborhood chief who lives near the site, said while the landfill causes pollution, it also creates business opportunities including rental housing and food stalls catering to waste pickers, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.
Across Indonesia, landfills are under growing pressure. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas released as organic waste decomposes in open landfills, contributes to climate change and can trigger landfill fires during extreme heat, ANTARA News reported. Fires have recently ravaged sites in Suwung and Tangerang, according to tanahair.net.
Indonesia is seeking technology to reduce methane from its landfills. Jumhur, an official cited by ANTARA News, said transitional technology is needed given the continuous generation of waste every day. Satya, cited by tanahair.net, said the country needs Tier 2 monitoring to provide accurate, localized data necessary for real mitigation, rather than the current Tier 1 emissions inventory.
Waste-to-energy incinerators are among the options Indonesia is exploring, though environmental groups have warned that a dependence on waste-to-energy could affect the livelihoods of the estimated 3.7 million waste collectors who rely on access to recyclable materials to make a living, Eco-Business reported.
For Wencih, the immediate concern remains the daily search for salable material. A good day brings about 200,000 rupiah — enough to cover food and rent. On rare occasions, a piece of discarded jewelry makes it a jackpot.
She said she hopes her daughters never have to climb the garbage mountains.