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WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

 SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Abstract

Waste management has so far only been carried out by government officials in the order from the source of waste to the TPS and ultimately to the landfill. Landfill has been the main solution to waste management. The government's main attention is focused on the landfill, and the community is left to dispose of their waste. However, the existence of landfills has many negative impacts, such as conflicts with communities and pollution. A study conducted by Rathje (1987) proved that most of the waste in landfills that have been closed for a long time does not decay. Most of the waste in the landfill is household waste wrapped in plastic (mixed organic and inorganic). Because of the existence of TPS and TPA, the community tends to think practically by disposing of waste as it is (without treatment or separation). The mindset is that the government is responsible for all waste generated by the community. The government is trying to make innovations towards improving landfill management, for example, the development of landfilling technology, waste processing technology, and cooperation with outside parties, where limited costs are the main obstacle, even though so far government funding has focused on landfills and not on changing mindsets. The main problem with waste is the problem of paradigm, behavior, and awareness. Waste management technology and landfills are secondary to human behavior. The main focus on landfills as a solution seems to have shaped the character of people who do not care about waste, do not want to be responsible for waste, and are spoiled by the government. The discussion of sustainable waste management and environmental management theory will provide answers to the question of how to solve waste management problems.

Waste can be defined as a burden or a valuable resource, depending on how it is managed (Zaman, 2009: 1). According to Law No. 18 of 2008, Chapter 1, waste is the residue of daily human activities and/or natural processes in solid form. McDougall et al. (2001:1) define waste as something that is less useful and valuable, or useless remains. Waste is a product of human activity. It physically consists of the same materials as useful items, distinguished only by its lack of value. The reason for the lack of value or usefulness can be attributed to the mixing of waste with other materials. Waste and unknown waste composition.

According to the EPA Waste Guidelines (2009: 11), waste is anything that is discarded, rejected, ignored, unwanted, or unused material; the unused material is not for sale, recycled, reprocessed, repaired, or refined by a separate activity that produces the material. Waste is also defined as anything that environmental protection laws or policies define as waste, regardless of whether it has value or not. From the various definitions above, there is a common definition of waste in general, namely that waste is material that is discarded and reduced in value. A slightly different point is expressed by McDonough and Braungart (2002: 92) in Scheinberg (2010: 9), which says that waste has the same value as food. This statement can be interpreted as McDonough and Braungart's view that waste has a very high value and is valuable even to the point of having the same value as food.

Waste is something that must be managed so that it has added value, can be reused, and does not pollute the environment. Historically, waste management has been identified with engineering functions. Increased production has created problems that require landfills. Material flow in society is depicted schematically in Figure 1. Waste is generated at the stage of extracting materials.

Waste is something that must be managed so that it has added value, can be reused, and does not pollute the environment. Historically, waste management has been identified with engineering functions. Increased production has created problems that require landfills. Material flow in society is depicted schematically in Figure 1. Waste is generated at the stage of extracting materials.

raw materials and during the production process. After the raw materials are obtained, more waste is produced during the processing of goods that will then be consumed by society. The most effective way to reduce the waste problem is to reduce the amount and toxicity of waste generated. But with the increasing desire for a better standard of living, people are consuming more and generating more waste. Consequently, society must look for effective waste management methods and ways to reduce the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of in landfills (Tchobanoglous et al., 2002: 1.1). In accordance with Law No. 18 of 2008, which states that waste management aims to improve public health and environmental quality and make waste a resource.

Material and waste streams in industrialised societies
(Tchobanoglous et al., 2002: 1.2)

The increase in the amount of waste has resulted in the complexity of the problem of managing waste. Solid waste management is a complex process that encompasses many technologies and disciplines. It includes technologies associated with the control of generation, storage, collection, removal and transport, processing, and disposal of waste that are acceptable and in accordance with principles of public health, economics, engineering, aesthetics, and other environmental considerations, including responsiveness to the general public (Tchobanoglous et al., 2002: 1.2).

According to Scheinberg (2010:9), waste management fails when there is too much waste, it is in the wrong place, it is not close enough to where the waste is sold, or it is not recycled enough. The solution lies in redesigning products, packaging, and processes so that they are suitable for input into the value chain. Initiatives and tools can also be used to support sustainable waste management strategies. Several examples of tools and initiatives have been implemented in several cities in an attempt to support sustainable waste management (Roseland et al., 1998:74):

  • Information provision and education To popularize the recycling program, the Greater Vancouver Regional District, B.C., published the book "101 Uses for Your Old Shoes and Other Stuff" in 1996 on how to recycle and repair household items as a resource for businesses and organizations. organization to recycle by repairing and renting items in the area.
  • Cooperation and partnerships Switzerland's community composting program consists of nearly 600 neighborhood composting sites. A suitable place, educational information, and support are provided by  the city. Maintenance and care of the compost heap are shared with participating households. Nearly 10% of the city's resident population participated in the program.
  • Mastery of composter field knowledge In   Seattle, Washington,  interested residents can take part in the composter programme training. Participants who have mastered the programme then go into the community to train residents. In Indonesia, training or educational mastery in waste technology is still low, with the establishment of compost mastery  schools is   one   of the significant waste management efforts.
  • Waste reduction award program One of the awards related to waste in Indonesia is Adipura. The Adipura Award was enacted to encourage local governments and communities to realize clean and shady cities by applying the principles of good governance in environmental management. For Adipura, waste is one of the substances of environmental problems that become the main issue. For this reason, the Adipura assessment includes city cleanliness and landfill conditions.
  • Eco-labelling: Product labeling that provides information on the percentage of recyclable content in a product can help consumers choose environmentally friendly products.

In addition to the strategic approach through tools and initiatives, waste management is known as the waste hierarchy, which is a concept and priority tool that can direct the development of management strategies.

waste aimed at reducing resource consumption and protecting the environment. Tchobanoglous et al. (2002: 1.20) revealed four (four) waste management options (waste reduction at source, recycling, waste-to-energy, and landfilling) that can be done interactively or hierarchically.

In areas with no emphasis on economics, tools for waste management are selected based on the clarity of their environmental acceptability. Waste reduction at the source will be at the highest level to prevent waste problems from being managed. Recycling, including composting, will be the next management option as it returns resources to the environment. 

Commercial after the original product has no more use. Waste-to-energy is the next option, as waste can produce energy rather than just being burned or buried. Landfilling is the last option, which is no better or even worse than incineration (Tchobanoglous et al., 2002: 1.20). UNEP Waste Climate and Change (2010: 5) lists a waste hierarchy similar to Tchobanoglous et al. (2002) (Figure 2c). With the increasing problems in waste management, waste management cannot be solved with only one waste management option but with a comprehensive and integrated management system.

Figure 2: waste hierarchy 

Environmental Management Theory in Waste Management

Humans began to pay great attention to their environment, especially in the 1970s, after the UN conference on the environment was held in Stockholm. This focus is primarily due to the growing pollution from industrial waste that interferes with human life. Humans are an ecological part of the environment. Human survival depends on the integrity of the environment. The relationship between humans and the environment has undergone many changes over time. Changes in this relationship have led the earth to make changes that then make many observers read the phenomena that occur in the relationship between the environment and humans and create theories to manage the environment, also called environmental management.

Buchholz (1993) divides environmental management theories into two categories: traditional management and ecocentric management. The main cause of the destruction of the earth is a global human moral crisis that is wrong about the way humans view themselves, nature, and the position of humans in the environment. Traditional management is characterized by goals that focus on economic gain and profit. Traditional management is a form of management that adheres to anthropocentrism. Keraf (2010:1) views the importance of  human morals, ethics, and behavior as the basis for human treatment of the environment. Anthropocentrism is an understanding that is the basis of human misunderstandings of nature. This understanding holds that only humans have absolute value and power over nature, so that nature becomes a means of satisfying human needs.

Ecocentric management is a form of management that is the opposite of traditional management. Ecocentric management prioritizes sustainability, quality of life, and well-being. Ecocentric and biocentric views are views that support ecocentric management. Biocentrism, or anthropocentrism, is an ideology that opposes anthropocentrism. Biocentrism holds that ethics and values belong not only to humans but also to all living things. An extension of biocentrism is ecocentrism, or deep ecology, which views all ecological communities (living and non-living) as having value, so ethics encompasses a wider range than biocentrism.

The fundamental difference between traditional management and ecocentric management lies in how to view and utilize the role of the environment in fulfilling human needs. Traditional management still relies on the full use of the environment to meet human needs without thinking about the future of the environment. Meanwhile, ecocentric management is a form of environmental utilization that is balanced with nature and uses sustainable principles.

The fundamental change needed to make the earth better starts with a change in human morals and behavior. Viewing waste pickers as a community that is important to the environment is one manifestation of ecocentric management. As a community in harmony with nature, waste pickers are still not seen as important for sustainable waste management.

Sustainable Waste Management

Sustainable development can mean making life more meaningful, not just fulfilling needs. The term sustainability is widely used in various fields, including sustainability, in waste management. Chung and Lo (2003: 123) used four criteria in assessing the sustainability of waste management in Hong Kong, namely the criteria of environmental desirability, economic optimization, public acceptance, fairness, and administrative provisions.

In recent years, in several countries, waste disposal to landfills has been sought to be reduced by stricter regulations, promoting source reduction, reuse and recycling, and energy production from waste. According to Huber-Humer and Lechner (2011:1427), a sustainable landfill is defined as a system that aims to achieve an environmentally acceptable balance within one generation (30–40 years).

Where physical barriers to landfills fail to inhibit pollution, the release of emissions results in a high environmental burden that must be addressed to avoid threats to human health and the environment.

Management: waste management Integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM) focuses on waste management as a multi-actor, multi-layered social engineering system (Ijgosse, Anschütz, and Scheinberg 2004; Spaargaren and van Vliet 2000 in Scheinberg 2010: 9). ISWM places the formal sector and informal businesses in the overall technical and social system of waste management. The ISWM framework shown in Figure 3 below recognizes three main dimensions of waste management: stakeholders, waste system elements, and sustainability aspects (Scheinberg, 2010: 9).

Integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM) framework Source:
Ijgosse, Anshutz and Scheinberg, 2004 in Scheinberg (2010: 9).

Description:

  1. NGOs: Non Governmental Organisations.
  2. CBOs: Community Based Organisations.

An integrated waste management system requires cooperation from all parties in all aspects. One important aspect is the inadequacy of waste management legal regulations, which has an impact on the inefficiency of waste management in Indonesia. The existing legal regulations do not specifically regulate the waste management system. The latest regulation, Law No. 18 of 2008, is not well implemented due to the low level of waste management services. Meidiana (2010: 207–208)

Meidiana compared the waste management system in Indonesia in three periods: before decentralization (1999), 1999–2004, and 2005–2010. Meidiana found that only one aspect has improved in all three periods, namely the existence of a waste management system training program. This shows a low improvement in the quality of waste management in Indonesia. The following is a comparison of the implementation of aspects of municipal waste management in the three periods in Indonesia:

Table 1: Comparison of Waste Management Systems in Indonesia in three periods

Aspects of Waste Management

Decentralisation Before Year 1999

1999 - 2004 (UNEP)

2005 - Now

1

Integrated waste management system policy

None

None

None

2

Waste management law

None

None

None

3

Institutional arrangements for managing waste

Available

Available

Available

4

Waste management regulatory framework

Available

Available

Available

5

Financing support

None

None

None

6

Training programme

None

None

None

7

Private sector participation

None

None

None

8

Community participation

Available

Available

Available

9

Information system

None

None

None

10

Economic instruments

Available

Available

Available

Conclusion

Sustainability will not work without the willingness and awareness of the community. So far, the indicators of fulfilling people's needs and increasing economic standards and progress have been used as the basis for the reasons for increasing the amount of waste that must be accommodated by the environment. The focus of waste management has only been on technical issues and environmental, economic, and social impacts. But the root of the main problem, namely the problem of paradigms and mindsets, has not been considered by many parties in managing waste. Fehr (2006: 319) revealed that the paradigm of waste management that has occurred in Brazil does not provide a comprehensive solution to the waste problem. The consequence of an outdated and undeveloped waste management paradigm leads to an unsustainable situation and the continued development of landfill sites as disposal sites.

Reference list

  • Chung S and Lo CWH. 2003. Evaluating sustainability in waste management: the case of construction and demolition, chemical and clinical wastes in Hong Kong. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 37: 119-145.
  • EPA Waste Guidelines, 2009. Waste Definition.http://www.epa.sa.gov.au/xstd_files/Waste/Guideline/guide_waste_definitions.pdf. Accessed February 14, 2012.
  • Huber-Humer M. and Lechner P. (2011). ScienceDirect Waste Management Journal. Sustainable landfilling or a sustainable society without landfilling? Waste Management, 31: 1427–1428.

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