The wheel of change moves very slowly here in Bali, but it is turning at last.
When I moved to Ubud over 4 years ago, it was almost impossible to do the right thing as far as recycling household waste was concerned. Even responsible people admitted that burning, burying or tossing it down the ravine were the only options. Then Bali Buddha started ABC Solutions which collects from about 250 households in the Ubud area. Until now there was no similar service in the densely populated south of Bali.
Now Seminyak, Legian, Kerobokan and Canggu will have a weekly household recycling service beginning in June.
Things were supposed to be much further along by now. Almost 3 years ago, the Rotary Club of Ubud conceived the idea of a recycling centre outside of Ubud. Recyclables would be collected daily from households and businesses around Ubud, and turned around at the centre within hours to various purchasers in the south, generating jobs and income while addressing Ubud’s serious waste issues. The centre was modeled on a successful pilot in Jimbaran that collected and sold recyclable plastic, glass, metal and paper from several large hotels and the airport catering facility. This pilot is now a profitable business.
Crunching the numbers for the Ubud recycling centre took into account the ‘richer’ recyclables which would have been collected from hotels, shops and expat households. Although not anticipated to be as profitable as the Jimbaran facility, it would still have been viable.
Alas, in Bali, things seldom turn out as expected. After a year of obstacles in Ubud, the location of the project was moved to Temesi, east of Gianyar. The banjar of Temesi warmly embraced the project, the Bupati donated state land and all obstacles were swiftly removed. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in two days, new plans were drawn up in four, building began in March and the recycling centre was operational in June 2004.
This new centre had a different objective. Without access to the ‘rich’ trove of recyclables generated by the tourism industry and expat households, this would be a replicable recycling facility for a typical Indonesian community as an alternative to landfills or incinerators. Landfills are expensive to construct in order to prevent the leakage of contaminants into adjacent groundwater, and are notoriously difficult to control. In order to burn effectively incinerators must use very high heat, and the cleaning of fuel gasses is prohibitively expensive. In Indonesia, it would require over $60 in fees or subsidies to incinerate one ton of garbage.
To be sustainable, the Temesi centre needs two income streams –- the regular collection of recyclables and the production of compost from the organics collected. At Temesi, about 80% of the waste collected is wet organics (garden waste and old offerings) which is made into compost for sale. Two small trucks will soon begin collecting recyclables from businesses in the Ubud area, but more is needed. If the centre is to be viable and maintain the 60 jobs it will create, it needs more sources of recyclable material that can be sold in addition to the compost.
So a new household recycling service is about to be born -- one that serves homes in Canggu, Legian, Seminyak and Kerobokan. EcoBali will collect recyclables (not garbage) weekly. Instead of selling this to dealers in Denpasar, all of the recyclables will be taken to the Temesi recycling centre at the end of each day. Although this means forgoing profits, it helps ensure that the Temesi centre will become sustainable.
The new service will be limited to 60 households initially to ensure that it’s running smoothly before opening up to a wider clientele. Each home (householder and staff) will receive training on waste separation and a waste management information kit. Clean plastic, paper, metal and glass will be collected weekly. The cost of the service will be Rp 480,000 for 6 months, reflecting the higher cost of petrol, long distances involved and the fact that everyone is sharing the responsibility of ensuring that the Temesi project is a success. The first 60 households to register at ecobali@yahoo.com will be accepted during the ‘soft opening’ of this initiative. Hopefully businesses, schools and restaurants will be included in later intakes.
The Temesi recycling centre was funded mainly by Rotary, SDC of Switzerland, OCPR of USAid and some private donors. It’s probably the only fully integrated waste management centre in the whole of Indonesia, collecting, sorting and recycling glass, plastic, metal and paper using a conveyor belt, shredder and baler. Because so much of the waste collected here is organic, a growing composting facility has been established. Organics are shredded, heaped, composted, sieved in a rotating compost drum and bagged for sale. Only about 10 - 15% of the waste arriving at the recycling centre ends up in the adjacent landfill.
Tidy and well-organized, the centre is a hive of activity. After a year of operation the management and banjar are now taking ownership of the facility, and the concept. At a recent village meeting I attended, there was a discussion about the incongruity of operating a waste management facility in a village which was dirty. It was decided to form clean-up crews for the village, and bring everything that was collected to the centre. A historic moment.
Ideally, Bali will someday have about 12 such facilities, which could be built by the Regencies or by entrepreneurs. But that can’t happen until we learn how to make waste recycling work at this pilot centre in Gianyar. Imagine… if we all do the right thing, Bali could become a model for waste management within a generation. For those of us who are privileged to live here, it’s worth the effort.
Register for the recycling service at ecobali@yahoo.com
