Metamorphosis of Tangerang’s Rawa Kucing Park

Piles of waste at Rawa Kucing garbage dump, Kedaung Wetan, Neglasari district, Tangerang city, Banten, are surrounded by plants. Of the 32 hectares of landfill, 15 ha are for garbage and 2 ha for greening parks, and the rest for infiltration water and leachate ponds.

The Rawa Kucing final trash disposal site (TPA) in Tangerang, Banten, has changed significantly after nearly five years. Today, the waste management facility has become a green, public educational park.

Tall trees were visible everywhere upon entering the park at TPA Rawa Kucing on Monday in Kedaung Wetan, Neglasari, Tangerang. The park contains topiary trees of various species, shapes and sizes. A footpath lined with trees runs through the park.

"Today, the TPA is cooler and greener. Unbelievable," said Pudji, 35, a resident of Pinang, Tangerang, who visited the site on Monday afternoon with two friends.

Pudji and his friends stopped occasionally to take pictures of the beautiful scenery of TPA Rawa Kucing. They were looking particularly to snap pictures of the colorful butterflies and dragonflies that flew between the leaves and branches.

"The presence of butterflies and dragonflies indicates that the air here is cool and fresh," said Diding Sudirman, the Technical Services Unit (UPT) head of TPA Rawa Kucing, who was accompanied by the TPA Rawa Kucing administrative head, Marsan.

TPA Rawa Kucing is the only waste management facility that receives all the garbage that is not managed by the community and garbage banks that operate in 104 subdistricts in Tangerang. The facility receives 1,300 tons of garbage every day that is then processed by its workers and garbage pickers. Garbage pickers sort plastic waste and cans, as well as shoes and toys, which helps reduce the volume of waste that is taken to the processing site.

"Since I was young, around 15 years, I have helped my father as a garbage picker at the TPA," said Sandi, 52, who lives in Pandeglang and sorts plastic waste in the Zone A landfill.

"I can collect as much as 10 large bags of waste in a day. I can collect 20 kilograms of plastic cups and beverage bottles, not to mention used shoes, cans and other garbage," he said.

Used plastic and cans can be resold for Rp 600 per kg. Rubber goods can be resold for Rp 1,000 per kg, and glass and plastic bottles are resold for Rp 2,000-6,000 per kg.

Sarmi, 35, and her husband Endi, 38, have also worked as garbage pickers at TPA Rawa Kucing for the past 10 years. They make a good income from their job. Sarmi said most of the garbage pickers had been working at Rawa Kucing since zones G and B were still active. After these two zones were closed and combined under the sanitary landfill system, they moved to Zone A.

"Landfill G has been covered with a membrane for the sanitary landfill process. We try not to use soil to cover the garbage. We use membranes to process waste and compact it," said Diding.

To the rear of Zone G is a hill that is overgrown with trees. This is the Zone B landfill, which is also closed.

To the right of zones B and G is another hill, called Ambekan. "The hill is a pile of garbage that has been here for a long time," said Diding. The garbage pile has been compacted, so it will not collapse.

Window to waste management

The activities at Ambekan hill, zones and A, B and G and other facilities at TPA Rawa Kucing illustrate the long process of managing waste management, from simple piles of unprocessed waste to the formation of compacted hills like Ambekan. It then undergoes a more environmentally friendly strategy in making sanitary landfills. A new stage of waste processing follows through methane processing and landfill structuring, so the facility can be used as a public park and for educational tourism.

The area also has a location where raw waste from markets is turned into compost. In addition, it has a pond for catfish and tilapia. This pond is part of the liquid waste absorption system, which also absorbs leachate from the landfill. The liquids from the garbage are processed using the technology of wastewater treatment plants.

The facility has a temporary area equipped with a stove that uses the methane produced from the waste. The gas flows without disruption. Before, said Diding, the gas was supplied to the nearby community. Unfortunately, the gas distribution was stopped because some of the gas pipes leaked.

The rapid development of TPA Rawa Kucing’s facilities is inseparable from its rapid growth from 20 hectares to 32 hectares. Since 2015, the area has been an educational and recreational tourist site. "In 2018, it received up to 4,000 visitors per week. Potential visitors should come in groups and must register first," said Marsan.

Dirty garbage is indeed highly valuable, as long as it is managed properly and wholeheartedly.