Government of Bekasi City and Waste4Change Sign Bekasi 2020 River Waste Cleanup Program
Bekasi City, December 16th, 2019 – Located at the Bekasi City Government Office, The Mayor of Bekasi, Rahmat Effendi, and Waste4Change’s Founder and Managing Director, Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano signed a memorandum of understanding for the use of See Hamster, a river cleaning boat made in Germany, to clean Bekasi river in 2020.
Bekasi River was decided as a pilot location for the river-cleaning program using See Hamster due to the fact that the waste generated in this city amounts to 1,913 tons/day, with a potential amount of garbage dumped into the sea reaching 775 tons/day. The amount of waste that is potentially dumped into the sea is quite fantastic when compared to the amount of garbage in the capital city of Jakarta, in which the estimated amount of waste that is discharged into the sea equals to 356 tons/day.
Supported and in collaboration with two competent stakeholders in the field, namely Greencycle-Schwarz and One Earth One Ocean (OEOO), Waste4Change conducted a study on the amount of waste in rivers and recycled collected rubbish. This study aims to determine the exact location throughout the Bekasi River where the waste should be collected. The study will be conducted from January 20th, 2020 until February 28th, 2020, with the assistance of the team from the Environmental Services of Bekasi City Government (Dinas Lingkungan Hidup Pemerintah Kota Bekasi). The Bekasi City Government is obliged to coordinate the Bekasi City Government’s river-cleaning special forces, Frog Troops, to clean waste and to transport residual waste.
“Currently Waste4Change is focusing on developing services to manage more solid waste and is approaching several cities and districts that are open for cooperation in cleaning up waste such as Bekasi City Government. We are very pleased to be welcomed by the Bekasi City Government and will collaborate for the next 3 years to clean up trash in the Bekasi River. Hopefully, this assistance can maximize the performance of the Frog Troops in cleaning rivers in Bekasi City. Hopefully, this form of cooperation can inspire other regions in Indonesia to clean up their rivers so that they do not contribute more to the marine debris crisis that we are currently experiencing, “said Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano, Founder and Managing Director of Waste4Change.
Previously, the Bekasi River waste was cleared by the Bekasi City Government’s Frog Forces using traditional tools such as nets and bamboo. The presence of the See Hamster is expected to make it easier for the Frog Forces to collect trash that is dumped into the river. One of the long-term plans is to give the Frog Squad special training on how to operate the See Hamster.
“We will collaborate and use this ship to pick up trash in the river. Meanwhile, Bekasi City produces almost 1800 tons of waste/day. Meanwhile the ability of the local governments to transport and process the waste is only around 1000 tons. Hopefully, with this collaboration, we can make the Patriot City as a pilot region in cleaning up its river waste, “concluded Bekasi Mayor, Rahmat Effendi.