Indonesia: West Java and Jakarta Environmental Management Project
Global Environment Facility Concept Note
Solid Waste Management in Indonesia
1.
The urban areas of Indonesia generate about 55,000 tonnes of solid waste per day,
an amount that will at least triple by 2025. Waste disposal is among the worst in the Asia
region. Only about 50% to 60% of the urban waste stream is collected, and landfill sites
are mostly open dumps. Service is significantly worse for poorer residential areas, where
most of the waste is dumped in canals or vacant lots, or burned in smoldering piles. Poor
solid waste management contributes about 30% of the local waterway BOD loading and
is the largest source of particulate air pollution in urban areas. It is a major contributor to
respiratory ailments, diseases such as Dengue Fever, and localized flooding. Anaerobic
waste decomposition in landfills and water courses is also a significant source of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Despite the poor levels of service, solid waste
management is still often a local government’s single largest expenditure.
2.
Improving urban waste management in Indonesia is imperative and urgent. It
requires: (i) enhanced cooperation between neighboring urban areas to share facilities and
reduce costs, (ii) greater private sector participation to increase capacity, and (iii) more
efficient collection (especially from poor urban areas) and better disposal practices.
Project Objectives
3.
The proposed West Java and Jakarta Environmental Management Project
(WJJEMP) is designed to improve this and other aspects of environmental conditions in
the major urban areas of West Java and Jakarta. It will help governments (mostly local
level) increase the efficiency of urban service delivery and municipal waste management,
promote the country’s decentralization efforts, and support local economic development.
The proposed GEF-assisted component – an innovative organic waste composting
program – would pilot an environmentally sound and potentially efficient method of
waste management that would also cost-effectively reduce Indonesia’s GHG emissions.
If successful, it will provide a replicable model for waste management that can be applied
in other urban areas of Indonesia and in other developing countries.
Project Description
4.
The proposed project is a comprehensive effort to improve the living conditions of
people, especially the poor, in the urban areas of Metropolitan Serang, Cirebon, Bandung,
and Jakarta (i.e. Jabotabek – the local jurisdictions of Jakarta and Kabupaten/Kotamadya
of Bogor, Tangerang, and Bekasi). Implementation will largely rest with the 13 local
governments, supported by the Provinces of West Java and DKI Jakarta and relevant
Central Government agencies.
5.
The project’s five inter-related components are complementary measures to
improve local service provision and reduce total pollution loads. They are – solid waste
management, community environment facility, assistance to small and medium sized
industries, environmental education, and local environmental management. The bulk of
the investments will be devoted to improvements in solid waste management.
6.
A key component of the project is establishment of the regional Jabotabek Waste
Management Authority. Recent government legislation encourages the formation of
these jointly owned and managed service provision agencies. Waste disposal is one of
the most important public services that lends itself very well to regional collaborative
action and planning.
Current Waste Management Practice, Baseline Situation and GEF Alternative
7.
Current Situation: About 50% to 60% of the urban waste stream is collected and
dumped at basic landfills. Collection rates are lower in poor neighborhoods – Jakarta’s
collection is estimated at 66% and Botabek’s only 23%. There is significant uncontrolled
dumping and virtually no “sanitary landfilling”. The few existing disposal sites which
could conceivably be operated as sanitary landfills are deficient in a number of areas, i.e.
no daily waste covering, sporadic compaction, poor control of dumping and dangerous
working conditions for waste pickers, ineffective leachate collection and treatment. A
few waste disposal sites, such as Ciangir in Bali, have been operated close to sanitary
landfill conditions. However, methane collection and flaring has not been attempted, and
the cost and technology barriers it faces, such as seasonal variations in moisture and the
relative sophistication of methane collection design and operating requirements mean that
it is most unlikely to occur. An alternative means of reducing methane emissions separating organic and non-organic waste and composting the organic component - has
been tried on a small scale in over 40 local areas, and a few such programs are still
operating. Areas of high organic waste supply have been identified and many people are
aware of composting and its potential role in an integrated waste management system.
8.
Baseline: All levels of government within Indonesia recognize the environmental
unsustainability of existing waste management programs and are attempting to remedy
the situation. The proposed project is one example of government’s willingness to better
manage solid waste. The project sets a goal for the Jabotabek urban region of 100%
collection coverage and efficiency by 2010. The collected waste will be disposed of in
sanitary landfills. However, it is unlikely that methane collection would be widespread,
since most of the waste disposal would occur in existing sites where retrofitting for
methane collection would be difficult (and flaring would be extremely difficult due to
sporadic methane concentrations and inadequate capping). New landfill sites are
proposed that could have methane collection. However, the prospects of flaring this gas
(thereby reducing methane concentrations and overall GHG contributions) are highly
uncertain. Although costs vary considerably between sites, it is estimated that the
baseline (sanitary landfilling at existing and a few newly commissioned sites with no
methane collection) costs an average of $25.00 per tonne of waste received on site.
These costs will be financed by Indonesia.
9.
GEF Alternative: Most efforts to reduce GHG emissions from municipal solid
waste have focussed on methane collection at sanitary landfills and either flaring or use
as a fuel. An alternative, less technically demanding and potentially more widely
replicable way to reduce GHG emissions is to compost the organic fraction of the waste
stream. Composting is an aerobic (with oxygen) degradation process and produces CO2
as a by-product, as opposed to the methane (CH4) that is produced from anaerobic
decomposition (which occurs in landfills). Composting is a cost-effective way to reduce
GHG emissions because: (a) The methane produced by anaerobic decomposition is a
much more potent GHG than the CO2 produced by composting. Plus the best designed
and operated landfill gas recovery systems (or anaerobic “fuel cells”) collect at most
about 80% of the methane. (b) Composting occurs much closer to the waste generation
source, thus reducing transportation costs and associated emissions. Composting also
avoids the operation of landfill equipment. (c) Compost application reduces the need for
synthetic fertilizers which involve an energy-intensive, and GHG contributing,
manufacturing process. (Although compost only has a low fertilizer contribution, its
ability to improve soil structure enables more efficient use of fertilizers).
10. Under the GEF alternative, communities in the Jabotabek region would compost an
average of 100,000 tonnes/year of organic waste over the seven year life of the project
and divert this waste from landfills, where it would decompose anaerobically. In so
doing, the GEF alternative would reduce GHG emissions by about 600,000 tonnes of
CO2 equivalent per year. The cost of the GEF alternative is about $40.00 per tonne of
organic waste treated, which totals $28 million. Its incremental costs are $15.00 per
tonne, and total $10.5 million. This equates to a unit abatement cost of $2.73/tonne of
carbon equivalent.
Consistency with the GEF’s Operational Strategy
11. The proposed project is fully consistent with the GEF’s criteria for Short Term
Projects, which is the GEF eligibility window to which Indonesia wishes to apply. It is
one of Indonesia’s nine top priority GHG abatement projects (ALGAS Report, pp 13 and
15). It is highly cost-effective, with a unit abatement cost of $2.73/tonne/carbon. It has
good prospects of long-term sustainability and replication.
The Proposed Organic Waste Composting System
12. Composting has been inhibited in Indonesia, and elsewhere, by two major barriers;
technical and financial. To help overcome the technical barrier, draft compost guidelines
have been prepared for Indonesia. These guidelines represent consistent but achievable
quality standards (which are necessary for market development), and would enable
Indonesia to develop a sustainable composting industry. Preliminary economic and
financial assessments have been completed that highlight the benefits of composting and
demonstrate its potential long-term financial viability.
13. To achieve long-term financial viability, composting must be practiced on a
sufficient scale to mobilize local government financial support (from savings in waste
collection and treatment) and to penetrate the commercial agricultural fertilizer market.
According to the financial analysis, composting of at least 100,000 tonnes of waste per
year is necessary to meet these conditions. The establishment of a large-scale composting
system would be financed initially through three sources; local government budgetary
provision (avoided disposal and transportation costs), compost sales, and compost credits
to producers that would encourage them to learn the technique and adopt the practice
over a seven-year period while a sustainable compost market is developed. Local
government cost savings and compost sales would not be sufficient to support the
initiative initially, but the system could be sustainable in the long term as the marketing
system develops and as the savings to government become evident and more resources
are allocated to solid waste management. To promote sustainability, the composting
credits would decline over the component’s proposed seven year life.
14. The composting credits would be disbursed by the Jabotabek Waste Management
Authority. This organization would develop the required professional capacity and be
subject to fiduciary review by the World Bank. The credits would be disbursed per tonne
of compost produced, which would be easily verifiable. Payment could be made per
presented invoice and spot checks carried out to ensure corresponding compost activity.
The use of compost credits is also a good way to promote private sector participation and
encourage producers to find the optimum methods for compost production. For example,
small scale composting activities would have equal access to the funds as larger
municipal or private sector operated facilities. Jabotabek would offer composting
producers assistance with marketing to the agricultural community, production advice,
and access to the results of composting and compost use research.
Suitability of the Project Site
15. Java is particularly suitable for testing waste composting on a large scale. Western
Java is both one of the world’s most densely populated and intensively cultivated areas.
(The project area encompasses some 25 million people who live within a 100 km-wide
zone of intensive agriculture). About 60% of the urban waste stream is organic, and there
is a virtually unlimited potential market for good quality compost, e.g. extensive dryland
farming areas and urban agriculture activities. Indonesia’s climate is also optimum for
composting. Of all the East Asian countries, Indonesia (and the Philippines) face the
greatest challenge of increased waste generation and limited funds to address the issue.
Stakeholder Involvement
16. The primary stakeholders are the millions of urban inhabitants who will benefit
from the project’s waste management and other environmental improvements and who
will participate in the organic waste composting component. Community representatives
have been consulted on the project design and their experience with and attitudes to the
proposed waste composting system by the local governments. As it is envisaged that
women will play a major role in the waste composting scheme, community-based
women’s organizations have been specifically targeted in the consultations.
Issues/Risks
17. Among the major risks are: (i) professional performance of the Jabotabek Waste
Management Authority, e.g. the speed with which it develops the necessary institutional
capacity to manage the composting system; (ii) quality and marketability of the compost
produced, (iii) verification of the compost that is produced; and (iv) sufficient diversion
of organic material. Many of these risks would be mitigated by disbursing GEF funds
against compost actually produced (with its corresponding global environmental benefit).
World Bank User
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