The Jakarta Environment Office has formed a collaboration forum as part of efforts to involve the public and institutions in waste mitigation to support environmental sustainability in the capital city.

“The environmental issue has not only become the responsibility of the office and the provincial government, but also become everyone's responsibility," head of the office, Asep Kuswanto, remarked after the forum was formed here on Wednesday.

The forum involves 45 businesses, non-governmental organizations, academicians, and financial institutions as environmental collaborators and aggregators.

The large-scale social collaboration forum can provide inputs to the Jakarta provincial government on environmental management while also supporting government work plans through independent action or collaboration.

Moreover, the forum will also encourage stakeholders to participate in supporting environment management.

To ensure it works effectively, the forum has been divided based on three clusters: waste, climate change, and air and water.

In addition, the forum has been divided into working groups, starting from waste reduction to handling.

In the future, the working groups will design their own work plans to ensure the sustainability of the environmental management program.

Kuswanto lauded the involvement of collaborators who care about environment management. In the beginning, only 21 institutions had joined the forum and now, their number has increased to 45.

In 2021–2022, the collaborators conducted 236 environmental management activities, which included the management of waste and the provision of education to people, with a total aid of Rp2.6 billion.

According to the office's data, Jakarta is estimated to produce 7,800-8,000 tons of waste every day, which is sent to the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Management Location (TPST) in Bekasi, West Java.

The total waste heap in Bantargebang is estimated to reach around 50 million cubic meters, with a height of around 50 m.

To reduce this waste, the Jakarta government is constructing a waste management facility in Bantargebang. (Antaranews)