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Let’s Get to Know the Functions of Indonesia’s Waste Management Facilities: TPS, TPS 3R, TPST, and TPA!

Basic Regulations for Waste Management in Indonesia

Population growth and their consumption patterns have led to an increase in volume, types, and characteristics of waste. In addition, waste management that is not yet in accordance with environmentally-friendly and sustainable methods of waste management can possess harm to public health and also the environment.

Mountain of waste at the Bantar Gebang landfill, 27th February 2016. Photo credit: TEMPO/Budi Purwanto

By considering these matters, the government issued Law No. 18 of 2008 concerning Waste Management. According to the Law,  waste management is defined as a systematic, comprehensive, and sustainable activity that includes waste reduction and handling.

The Differences between TPS, TPS 3R, TPST, and TPA

The process of waste management covers several stages to get to the Final Processing Site – Tempat Pemrosesan Akhir (TPA). Usually, the flow is like this: waste is produced, collected, transported, and processed, and eventually disposed of into the landfill, which is a place that needs to be properly isolated to avoid having negative effects on the environment.

Temporary Shelter – Tempat Penampungan Sementara (TPS)

Waste that is generated will go into the first processing site, namely the Temporary Shelter – Tempat Penampungan Sementara (TPS). TPS is a place where waste is transported before it is moved to either the recycling site, processing site, Integrated Waste Processing Site – Tempat Pemrosesan Sampah Terpadu (TPST), or 3R Waste Management (TPS 3R) site.

Examples of a temporary landfill (TPS). Source: diy-buatansendiri.blogspot.com
Example of a temporary landfill (TPS). Source: diy-buatansendiri.blogspot.com

Consequently, TPS must fulfill the following technical criteria:

  • The size of the TPS area is up to 200 m2;
  • Available facilities to classify waste into at least five types of waste (organic, non-organic, paper waste, hazardous waste, and residual waste).
  • The type of construction for the temporary garbage container is not a permanent one
  • Both the location and capacity are as needed;
  • Accessible location
  • Does not pollute the environment;
  • The placement of the site does not interfere with the aesthetics aspect and the traffic; and
  • Has a scheduled collection and transportation activity 

TPS 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)

Next, the waste will be managed at TPS3R. TPS3R is conceptualized as Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, which is carried out to serve a community (including in low-income community areas) consisting of at least 400 households.

Example of TPS 3R in Magelang. Source: dkptkotamagelang.blogspot.com

The main concept of waste processing in TPS 3R is to reduce the quantity and/or to improve the characteristics of the waste, which will be further processed in the landfill (TPA).

TPS3R is expected to play a role in ensuring the increasingly critical land requirements for the provision of municipal waste landfills. This is in line with the national policy, which is to place landfill at the lowest hierarchy, thus minimizing the residue that will end up in the landfill.

The TPS 3R in Citarik Village, Sukabumi Regency that was built in 2016 by the Ministry of Public Work. Source: merdekanews.co

The TPS 3R requirements, as written in Ministerial Regulation (Permen) No. 2 of 2013 article 29 paragraph (2) and paragraph (3), are namely:

  • The size of the TPS 3R is greater than 200 m2;
  •  Available facilities to classify waste into at least 5 (five) types of waste (organic, non-organic, paper waste, hazardous waste, and residual waste)
  • TPS 3R is complemented with a sorting room, organic waste composting, and /or biogas producing units, warehouses, buffer zones, and does not interfere with the aesthetics aspect and the traffic;
  • The type of construction for the residual waste processing containers in TPS 3R is not a permanent container;
  • Placement of the 3R TPS location should be located as close as possible to the service area, at least within a radius of no more than 1 km;
  • Location and capacity as needed;
  • Its location is easily accessible;
  • Does not pollute the environment; and
  • Has a scheduled collection and transportation activity 

Integrated Waste Management Site -Tempat Pemrosesan Sampah Terpadu (TPST)

In addition to the TPS 3R, there is an Integrated Waste Management Site – Tempat Pengolahan Sampah Terpadu (TPST). TPST is a place for collecting, sorting, reusing, recycling, processing and final processing of waste.

If analyzed by the process level, TPST has a more complex waste processing system compared to TPS 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle Waste Processing Site), because TPST manages the final processing of waste so it is safe to be returned to the environment.

The first TPST Building in Nusa Tenggara Barat, specifically in Lombok Timur district. Source: SuaraNTB.com

The TPST requirements mentioned in Permen No. 2 of 2013 article 32 must meet technical requirements such as:

  • The area of ​​TPST is greater than 20,000 m2;
  • TPST location can be in the city and/or landfill site;
  • The distance of the TPST to the nearest settlement is at least 500 m;
  • Waste processing in TPST can use the technology referred to in Article 31 paragraph (3); and
  • The TPST facility is equipped with a sorting room, waste treatment plant, environmental pollution control, residue handling, and supporting facilities and buffer zones.

Final Processing Site – Tempat Pemrosesan Akhir (TPA)

The next process is that the waste will be moved to the Final Processing Site (TPA). TPA is a place to process and return waste to the environment safely, both for humans and the environment. The significant difference between TPST and TPA is in the waste management system policy.

TPST carries out various waste management activities such as collection, sorting, reuse, recycling, processing, and final processing of waste, while TPA conducts landfill methods which are developed into controlled landfills and sanitary landfills.

In principle, landfills are needed because:

  • Reducing waste at the source, recycling or minimization of waste cannot completely eliminate all waste
  • Waste treatment usually results in residuals that must be treated further
  • Sometimes there are waste that can neither be decomposed biologically, chemically, nor they can be burnt.

Waste isolation in landfill needs to be done to prevent several problems related to waste, including:

  1. Growth of disease vectors: Garbage is a nest suitable for various disease vectors. Various types of mice, flies, cockroaches, and mosquitoes are often found in this place.
  2. Air pollution: Methane gas (CH4) produced from anaerobic decay (without oxygen) reaction from organic waste can cause an explosion if the methane gas is exposed to sparks or lightning. Methane gas is also one of the causes of extreme climate change
  3. Leachate pollution: Leachate is a sort of liquid that results from waste decomposition, which can absorb and contaminate groundwater. Leachate generation is influenced by external water sources such as rainfall (daily precipitation), surface flow, infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, temperature, waste composition, humidity and depth/height of the pile of garbage in the landfill.
Air lindi yang tengah diolah di Instalasi Pengolahan Air Sampah di Bantar Gebang
Leachate that was being treated at the Wastewater Treatment Installation in Bantar Gebang landfill

Leachate treatment in landfill can be done in various ways, including;

  • Utilizing hydraulic properties with groundwater regulation so that leachate flow does into the groundwater
  • Isolate the landfill so that external water does not enter and leachate does not come out
  • Prefer lands that have a subgrade with the ability to neutralize pollution.
  • Return leachate (recirculation) to the landfill.
  • Drain leachate to domestic water processors.
  • Processing leachate with specific treatment by making a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

Differences between Sanitary Landfill and Controlled Landfill

Based on the 2007 Indonesian Environmental Statistics (SLHI) data on the condition of landfills in Indonesia, most of them are open dumping places, causing pollution problems on the environment.

Data states that 90% of landfills are operated by open dumping and only 9% are operated by sanitary landfills and controlled landfills.

Mountains of waste at the Jatibarang landfill, Semarang on 27th February 2020. Photo credit: TEMPO/Budi Purwanto

This is concerning because according to Sri Bebassari as the Head of Indonesia Solid Waste Association (InSWA) as well as an expert on waste, open-dumping landfills should no longer exist in Indonesia because based on Law No. 18 of 2008 article 44 and 45, it is clearly stated that in 2013, all regions should have sanitary landfills instead. 

The controlled landfill system is an “upgrade” of the open dumping system. To reduce the detrimental effects that might result from this, waste is piled up with a layer of soil every seven days.

In its operations, to improve land-use efficiency and landfill surface stability, waste leveling and compacting is also carried out.

In Indonesia, the controlled landfill method is recommended to be applied in medium and small cities. To be able to implement this method, several facilities are needed, including:

  • Drainage canal to control the flow of rainwater.
  • Leachate collection and treatment plants.
  • Operational control station.
  • Methane gas control facilities
  • Heavy equipment

Whereas the sanitary landfill system is a waste disposal facility where layers of compacted garbage are covered with layers of earth or soil.

Thus there is a process of spreading and compacting waste in the designated coverage area. The act of covering the waste with cover soil is also carried out every day.

A model of a sanitary landfill. Source: slideplayer.com
A model of a sanitary landfill. Source: slideplayer.com

Indonesia Needs A Better Landfill System

Currently, there are around 450 landfills in large cities with an open dumping system and there are only a few landfills that have been developed into controlled landfills.

Potential waste that can be produced from 45 big cities in Indonesia reaches 4 million tons/ year. Consequently, the potential methane gas that can be produced amounts to 11,390 tons of CH4/year or equivalent to 239,199 tons of CO2/year.

This amount represents 64% of total waste emissions from 10 major cities, including Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Semarang, Palembang, Makassar, Bekasi, Depok, and Tangerang.

Hamparan sampah di Tempat Pembuangan Akhir (TPA) Jatibarang, Semarang pada 27 Februari 2016. Kredit foto: TEMPO/Budi Purwanto
Waste-pickers sorting through the mountains of waste at the Jatibarang landfill in Semarang Photo credit: TEMPO/Budi Purwanto

Sustainable Waste Indonesia (SWI) research in 2018 revealed that 24 percent of waste in Indonesia is still not managed. This means, of the approximately 65 million tons of waste produced in Indonesia every day, around 15 million tons pollute the ecosystem and the environment because it is not handled.

Meanwhile, 7 percent of waste is recycled and 69 percent of waste ends up at the Final Disposal Site – Tempat Pemrosesan Akhir (TPA).

 The report also found that the type of waste that was produced the most was organic waste (60%) and plastic (14%), followed by paper (9%), metal (4.3%), glass, wood and other materials (12.7% ).

Moreover, based on a report from SuaraJabar.id, Bekasi City is estimated to produce 1.800 tons of waste per day. Meanwhile, the pile of garbage in Sumur Batu landfill has almost exceeded its capacity with a height reaching 20-30 meters above the ground.

The volume of the waste which enters Sumur Batu landfill reaches 900 tons daily. However, efforts to reduce the volume of waste in the landfill do not yet work so far.

Sumur Batu landfill. Photo credit: Deny Iskandar/INDOPOS

Therefore, in order to help in minimizing the amount of waste that enters the landfill, the solution can be started from ourselves, which is to sort our waste from the source.

To find out more about how to sort various types of waste so that it can be recycled optimally, kindly look at our recyclables guide.

Zero Waste to Landfill Solution from Waste4Change

Waste4Change offers a solution that can reduce the amount of waste that will enter the landfill. Zero Waste to Landfill is one of our waste management services that implement waste segregation at the source and ensures the treatment of all waste so that none are being sent to the landfill. Also, this service is coupled with a comprehensive report on waste flow.

Waste4Change’s operators posing in front of our garbage truck.
Your Responsible Waste Management Service

For the Zero Waste to Landfill service, Waste4Change provides the following facilities:

  1. Waste collection schedule and frequency that can be modified based on your needs 
  2. Transportation of all domestic waste
  3.  Procurement service for custom and segregated waste bins (based on request)
  4. Provision of color-coded trash bags
  5. Training for Cleaning service team (based on request)
  6. Hazardous waste (B3) management services (based on request)
  7. Waste flow report that contains the volume, category, level of sorting, and example of the results of the waste management.

One of our clients, Kafe SELATAN, located at Jalan Benda Raya No. 89, Kemang, South Jakarta has used the Commercial Waste Collect and ZWTL service from Waste4Change ever since its opening in July 2018 to ensure that their waste, both organic and non-organic, are managed optimally and responsibly so that it does not accumulate in the landfill and worsen the existing waste crisis. 

Supporting and implementing the concept of zero-waste to landfill in every aspect of its business, Kafe SELATAN also ensures that its employees fully understand the importance of sorting waste and the implementation of the 3Rs (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) concept in their daily operational activities.

References:

https://www.cnnindonesia.com/gaya-hidup/20180425101643-282-293362/riset-24-persen-sampah-di-indonesia-masih-tak-terkelola

https://jabar.suara.com/read/2019/09/10/222657/tpa-bantar-gebang-disorot-dunia-wali-kota-bekasi-memang-terbesar-di-dunia

http://www.sanitasi.net/pemrosesan-akhir-sampah.html

https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sanitary-landfill.htm

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