As Bali’s few controlled landfills overflow, the island
continues to seek solutions for its garbage crisis. The days
when rubbish could be officially buried or burned or are quickly
coming to a close, as increasing population density and dwindling
land supplies make more sustainable alternatives unavoidable.
The normal breakdown of collected waste in Bali is about 85%
garden clippings and offerings, 5% recyclable, with the balance
being unusable. Ordinarily all of this would end up in the
landfill, with the organics taking up most of the space and
generating methane gas. Such was the case at the Temesi Landfill
in Gianyar Regency until 2004, when Rotary Club of Bali Ubud
launched a waste recovery project there, with the full support
of the local government.
Opened in mid-2004 as a pilot/pioneer project, the waste recovery
facility used a conveyer belt to sort three tons of waste
a day, and a shredder and blower to process the organic component
into compost. Waste separation and treatment procedures were
optimized and large-scale, forced aeration composting has
been continually improved in the modern research station and
laboratory. The project composts 85% of collected waste, recycles
5% and only 10% goes to the landfill. The second phase will
expand capacity to 50 tons a day -- all the collected solid
waste of half a million residents and tourists in the Gianyar
Regency. After organic and recyclable waste is removed the
volume will be reduced to 10%, extending the useful life of
the landfill by a factor of ten. The pilot/pioneer operation
has received the enthusiastic support of international researchers
and is often visited by schools, government officials, NGOs
and other interest groups.
The 42 tons of organic waste collected daily that would otherwise
decompose in the landfill and generate methane gas becomes
about 15 tons of pathogen-free compost. This represents the
equivalent of 77,000 tons of C02 emissions that will be avoided
over the next ten years under the Clean Development Mechanism
of the Kyoto Protocol. Sales of carbon credits at the Temesi
Waste Recovery Project will generate income of $1.4 million
over the next decade. Who buys carbon credits? In this case,
a Swiss tour operator called Kuoni, which offers them to travelers
when they buy air tickets to help neutralize their carbon
footprint. And the money will be spent replicating the Temesi
Waste recovery facility in other parts of Bali.
The project has developed under the leadership of Rotarian
David Küper, a retired Swiss chemical engineer with wide
experience of environmental projects. Without his expertise
and dedication, the project would not be at its current technical
or funding level.
“Our goal is to create an international centre of excellence
for solid waste management in Southeast Asia,” he explains.
“There are three critical steps to waste management,
and unfortunately they are usually followed in reverse of
the logical order. First, you need to build a waste processing
facility and when you have that, improve the waste collection
system. Only then can you start educating the public about
waste separation and awareness. They all need to be in place
to be successful.”
With the new 2,400 square meter waste separation and compost
area now near completion, the full-capacity waste facility
will be operational by January 2008. Major funding for the
original project and for Phase II was provided by Rotary Clubs
in Ubud, Switzerland and Germany, Canada’s International
Development Research Centre and the Government of Switzerland
with additional support from USAID and a fundraiser by the
Bali Hotels Association.
Beside the new waste facility, the original project building
and some new structures will become a Climate Change Theme
Park, probably the only one in the country. Most of the landfill
site, six metres deep in waste, has now been earthed over
and landscaped. The hands-on Theme Park should open to the
public in April 2008 and will focus on waste and climate change
issues presented though interactive displays, hands-on experiences
and demonstrations of practical solutions for solid and liquid
waste. Topics such as ways to reduce greenhouse gasses at
home, on the road and in agriculture will also be addressed,
all with a focus on the Balinese reality.
The Theme Park project is led by another very competent Swiss
national, Rotarian Charlotte Woerner. “We want to bring
people to come and see where their garbage goes,” she
says. “Few people even think about it, but it’s
now a huge problem. Here, we can show them that garbage is
not dirty; it’s just things we don’t need or use
any more that can be used in other ways.”
A windmill will be the main feature of the alternative energy
section and provide part of the electricity needed to produce
the compost. Visitors will also learn about energy from biogas,
micro-hydro, solar and biodiesel (from jatropha grown on the
site). A bio-reactor will generate biogas from one of the
toilet blocks, and the other will feed a waste-water garden,
with a guitar-shaped overflow fish pond. Microscopes will
reveal composting microbes and allow visitors to analyze water
quality. One display will exhibit the SODIS system for the
easy, carbon-neutral production of potable water. Another
will feature samples of products made from waste, with visitors
invited to create new ones. A worm farm demonstrates an easy
solution to kitchen waste. And one section will show the impact
of growing rice conventionally in water as opposed to the
System of Rice Intensification, which saves 80% of the water
and minimizes the production of greenhouse gasses.
Beside this is a stage where music performances will be powered
by hybrid power generated on-site. Nearby, a free-standing
treated bamboo structure provides an outdoor meeting space.
Altogether, the Climate Change and Waste Theme Park will be
an attractive and engaging destination for schools and other
groups. Important to the success of both the composting facility
and the Theme Park are manager Pak I Wayan Cakra, who has
managed the facility since its opening and Ni Nyoman Ari Astiti,
a young Balinese woman with a degree in Environmental Health.
She has been running the composting research laboratory since
January 2007, and will be trained as the Theme Park guide.
The projects are executed on behalf of the Rotary Club of
Bali Ubud by the local GUS Foundation with Ni Made Kushandari
at the helm. This all-Balinese Yayasan was established in
2001 by the surf industry to help preserve Bali’s environment
and promote community awareness. Project Leader I Nyoman Budhi
Wirayadnya and Program Officer Ni Wayan Ani Yulinda run the
project with dedication, mastering the technical and administrative
details as they arise while keeping the project on schedule.
In June 2006, The Regent of Gianyar received one of three
Adipura Trophies for Environmental Management for this project
from the President of Indonesia. Altogether, it’s a
pretty inspiring story. The Temesi facility has the potential
to be a tipping point for environmental awareness in Bali,
and a model for waste management that can be replicated elsewhere
on the island and beyond.
