VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Feb. 19 - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry said it is keen to support the waste management sector and help strengthen the implementation of circular economy in Indonesia.

"Waste management has been one of the most resilient business sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic," said director general of waste management at the ministry, Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, at an online press conference on National Waste Awareness Day 2021 originating from Jakarta on Thursday.

For that reason, steps need to be taken to strengthen the sector as a supporting factor to Indonesia's economic growth, as well as to materialize the 'waste to resource' principle, through the implementation of a circular economy and use of waste as an energy source, she observed.

With this aim, the government has adopted the theme ‘Economic Raw Material Waste in the Time of Pandemic’ for the 2021 Garbage Awareness Day and is commemorating it with efforts to shift to waste management, which can make a real contribution to economic growth, she noted.

She said several stages of waste management can be turned into economic drivers, including waste collection, transportation, waste processing equipment and machinery industry, recycling industry, compost and biogas industry, and the industry turning waste into alternative energy.

The move is expected to start a new chapter of waste management in Indonesia, she added.

"So we have left the paradigm of garbage collecting, transporting, and disposing," she stated.

Meanwhile, director of waste management at the ministry, Novrizal Tahar, said waste can be used as a source of economic growth.

There already is potential in Indonesia, where 60 percent of waste production is organic, and Black Soldier Fly (BSF) waste processing technology can be used to obtain derivative products of maggots (larvae) for animal feed, liquid fertilizers, and solid fertilizers, Tahar pointed out.

"We can turn this (BSF) into a massive initiative by having 514 districts / cities with 60 percent organic waste, so that protein needs can be fulfilled from the maggots, and then generate domestic and more competitive economic growth. More importantly, it can solve our waste problem," he said.

If the technology can be utilized on a massive scale, then there will no longer be any need for sending waste to landfills, he added. (Antaranews)