The waste management sector can contribute to efforts to reduce Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions as stipulated in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In Mataram City, this is done by converting waste into renewable energy whose implementation will rely on: political commitment, planning and financing as well as multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Mataram City in West Nusa Tenggara Province produces at least 337 tons of solid waste per day, the majority of which is generated from households. Of this waste, at least 73% is organic waste and only about 30% of the total waste is transported to the final processing site(Mataram City Urban Study Report, CRIC, 2020).
The challenges of waste management also offer opportunities. Mataram Mayor Mohan Roliskana, met at his office on Tuesday (13/7), expressed his city’s commitment to support the processing of waste into renewable energy, especially organic waste.
“To realize this commitment, we have prepared 1.3 hectares of land for the construction of a facility for processing organic waste into renewable energy with a biodigester. In this area, a market will also be built so that organic waste from the market can be immediately processed into the facility,” said the Mayor of Mataram. To follow up on this, the Mayor of Mataram also underlined the importance of sustainable financing. “There must be a political budget policy that we allocate so that this program can continue,” he added.
In terms of planning, Mataram City has launched waste management as one of the priority development agendas. Amiruddin, M.Si, who when met was still the Head of the Mataram City Bappeda, said that based on the Regional Policy and Strategy (Jakstrada) for Waste Management, Mataram City targets waste management up to 70% and waste reduction up to 30% in the 2018-2025 period. “Until now 83% is managed, 3% is reduced, but there are still 14% that are still unmanaged and cause environmental problems,” he said.
Processing waste into energy, he said, can help Mataram City deal with the problem of unmanaged waste. In the Mataram City Regional Spatial Plan (RTRW), land has been allocated for the construction of a biodigester to process organic waste into renewable energy. Construction of the facility is expected to take place in 2022.
Collaboration and circularity
CRIC supports Mataram City to slowly shift to sustainable waste management with a circularity approach, to extend the lifetime and utilization of resources. In Mataram City, CRIC promotes the replication of the Integrated Resource Recovery Center (IRRC), a solid waste to biogas processing facility that was successfully implemented by UCLG ASPAC in Malang District. At the IRRC facility in Malang District, 80-90% of solid organic waste is decomposed anaerobically. This method will be the model for the development of a waste-to-energy facility in Mataram City.
Head of the Mataram City Environment Agency M. Nazaruddin Fikri said that the waste-to-energy processing facility is a ‘game changer ‘ that can change the practice of transporting waste to reusing waste. In line with this, he added, action at the community level needs to be intensified to sort waste and manage organic waste. “Organic waste can be decomposed by black soldier fly as has been done by the community, or it can also be sent to biodigester facilities through the Waste Bank,” he said.
Regarding plastic waste, a private company is currently working with West Nusa Tenggara Province to process plastic waste into fuel using the pyrolysis method. The company, PT Geo Trash Management, is also working with the Waste Bank in Mataram City to obtain a supply of plastic waste. Through pyrolysis, plastic waste is heated to 300 degrees Celsius, and the steam from this heating is then flowed into an airtight reactor which then becomes various types of fuel including diesel, asphalt, wax. “In this process, there are no gas emissions produced. It’s essentially returning the plastic to its basic building blocks,” said Geo Trash Management Director Andrew Sinclair.
The active involvement of the community and collaboration with the private sector is an important approach in encouraging sustainable waste management in Mataram City. In Mataram City, CRIC has also encouraged the formation of the Climate Change Working Group (Pokja) which plays a central role in involving various parties, including the community and business actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in the waste management sector.