Waste Management in Indonesia

To be perfectly frank, waste management in Indonesia does not interest me at all. We live in a gated community near the centre of the city and every day the garbage guy comes round on his modified motorbike mini truck to collect the rubbish early every morning. I unlock my gate before he comes and I have a good quality large garbage bin that I bought on Tokopedia which would have cost three times more if I'd bought it in a store.

Recently our Chairwoman asked that we separate plastic bottles, which we are already doing. When we have visitors who drink beer then we also separate glass bottles in another bag. But it seems that nobody really cares. We've been asked by the sampah guy to not throw too much plant waste from the garden with our household garbage as it needs to be sent to a different rubbish dump. The Chairwoman and sampah man seem happy with what we are doing, probably because most of the other residents in our area either care less than we do about what gets thrown out.

We pay Rp50k per month to the sampah man. We also pay extra if we have a particularly large amount of rubbish to be thrown out or large plastic sacks of garden waste.

We follow the rules as per the Chairwoman's instructions and that's it. We have no interest in getting more involved in garbage management than is required.

If you're in a fancy gated estate:

The rubbish truck comes round at least once every day, often twice.

If you cut down a bush and leave the branches near your dustbin, they'll probably be gone within an hour

If you throw recyclable clothes or whatever else away, pop them in a bin liner with "Buka" (Open) on a note - it will disappear in minutes

If you're in an organised but older estate:

Rubbish collection varies from once a day to once a week. The service is cheap

If you're in a village:

Burn what you can and dump the rest in common mini dumps outside the village. A truck will come to take it when it looks too messy.

Wherever you live.

Put plastic bottles in a separate bag - The rubbish men resell them for cash. Separating them saves them hunting through the rest.

Cardboard boxes should, if possible, be left undercover. The bin men sell them as well.

Come Ramadan, make sure you catch the binmen and give them a nice tip. They don't earn much so be sure they can afford a little something extra for their families.

Posh estates commonly have an organised collection, but tip them personally as well. Bugger all to you is a lot to them.

Good point about the cardboard and plastic bottles. In our city you can always see people, often old and dirty and obviously working to survive, carrying huge sacks on their backs full of plastic bottles or pushing carts around full of piled up cardboard and often with several young kids or older kids helping to collect cardboard. These people get paid peanuts for what they collect, and they work really hard. As my wife says, it's better that they do this kind of work than to steal so be kind to them. I often stop the car beside them and give them Rp20k or Rp50k or whatever loose change I have on me. Sometimes when we have time especially around Ramadan time we buy 15 - 20 packed lunches and drive around the city handing them out to these people.

the last time I checked in Cirebon, the going rate for a large sack of plastic bottles was Rp.5,000

That's 32 US cents.

I respect these people because, as it says above, they chose hard work with little reward over crime.

They very much deserve a boost - They earn it every day of the week.

Hey everyone,

New to the site and wondering if anyone is in the Uluwatu (Ungasan) area and knows who I can get in touch with regarding organising regular rubbish collection?

Many thanks!

    Hey everyone,
New to the site and wondering if anyone is in the Uluwatu (Ungasan) area and knows who I can get in touch with regarding organising regular rubbish collection?

Many thanks!
   

    -@andrewn82

Contact your local Pak RT or RW.

If anyone knows, they will

@Fred Thanks mate! Will do

Hello to all, I am interested in moving from Australia to Indonesia to live and work. I am trained in industrial cleaning services and have had mining experiences. my question is , does any one know of employment agencies in Indonesia that i can approach myself.

@wyngrove60

These people get paid peanuts for what they collect, and they work really hard. As my wife says, it's better that they do this kind of work than to steal so be kind to them.

Well said. To this day I recall vividly a BBC documentary aired a few years ago when a London binman accompanied his counterpart in a posh part of Jakarta - Menteng.  Just when you thought you had a difficult job in life..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nftnn

    @wyngrove60These people get paid peanuts for what they collect, and they work really hard. As my wife says, it's better that they do this kind of work than to steal so be kind to them.Well said. To this day I recall vividly a BBC documentary aired a few years ago when a London binman accompanied his counterpart in a posh part of Jakarta - Menteng.  Just when you thought you had a difficult job in life..https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nftnn

I went there both before and after the program. I met Imam and his wife - lovely people. They ended up moving back to their home town in Java.

I have some photos and videos. I'll post them if I can dig them out.

The area changed dramatically after the program. There was a massive cleanup and all the rubbish removed.

The woman who managed a mention demanded part of Imam's money from the filming.