Flames dance as they burn sheets of lead from used batteries. The thick smog it produced darkened the skies at dawn one day at Jagabaya village in Parung Panjang district, Bogor regency. The stench of acid filled the air and lead dust flew everywhere.
The uninitiated will be overwhelmed in just minutes by the stench of acid from the illegal lead smelter the size of a volleyball court. However, the two workers at the smelter owned by 29-year-old TR stood by the furnace, even though they were not wearing safety masks.
Amid the thick smoke, the workers deftly stirred the coal, the fuel used to smelt the lead (Pb) from used batteries.
“Oh, it’s no problem. The proof is that I’m all right,” said AA, 42, one of the workers.
Apart from violating administrative requirements for businesses, illegal lead smelters that recycle used batteries also rely on traditional techniques. Lead dust from burning the batteries is everywhere.
Research from the Environmental and Forestry Ministry and the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) has found that breathing lead dust poses a serious health hazard. Lead dust of PM 2.5 (2.5 micron) can enter the blood stream and be deposited in organs such as the kidneys, in the central nervous system and in bones.
A large accumulation of lead in the body may lead to seizures, cancer and kidney failure.
Without being aware of these health hazards, the smelting workers continued with their work. Some stood near the large bellows near the furnace to make sure that it operated continuously.
The furnace used to smelt the used batteries looks like a well of about 100 centimeters in diameter. The furnace is 20 cm thick and 80 cm high, and is buried so that only its top half is above ground. Charcoal, lead sheets and used batteries are fed into the furnace through its 80 cm mouth.
The liquefied lead gathers at the bottom of the furnace, surrounded by the burning charcoal. The red-hot liquefied lead is then poured into block molds. Meanwhile, the liquefied lead mixed with the burnt charcoal become slag, which look like blackened coral.
“The slag is used to fill the village roads,” said AA.
TR’s lead smelter is just one of several illegal smelters that have operated in Parung Panjang since 2000. AA’s reticence is understandable, considering that he works in an illegal business.
The local administration raided TR’s illegal smelter several years ago. However, it reopened as soon as the government oversight became lax.
Today, illnesses related to lead pollution is not evident in Parung Panjang. However, things are far worse in neighboring Cinangka, where lead poisoning has caused mental impairments in children, including a condition similar to autism.
Deaths
Cinangka villagers have been involved in the illegal recycling of used batteries since 1978. Around 2002, 10 smelting workers died after illnesses whose symptoms included shortness of breath and other respiratory diseases. As a result, the villagers began to abandon the illegal business.
MA, 53, a former used battery dealer in Cinangka, said that the workers that died had been between 35-40 years old.
“They worked in the lead smelters. People then began to worry. Furthermore, starting in 2000, [developmental] disorders began to show in the children,” he said.
Researcher Budi Haryanto at the University of Indonesia’s School of Public Health said that it required a long time for lead pollution to cause illnesses. “Chemically induced diseases do not occur immediately. After the [lead] content reaches a certain level in the body, the symptoms will emerge, such as seizures,” he said.
Workers like AA have also fallen ill from lead pollution. Whenever he is sick, he takes a day off.
Executive director Ahmad Safrudin of the Committee for the Phasing Out of Leaded Fuel (KPBB) said that, since the KPBB began working in 2001 with workers of illegal lead smelters, it found many cases of workers retiring because of their declining health.
Apart from the clear health hazards, the business of recycling lead from used batteries also provides meager pay despite the high risks. The workers are paid Rp 150 (US 0.9 cents) for each kilogram of lead they produce.
In one night, AA can produce 23 lead blocks, each weighing 25-27 kg. He makes no more than Rp 90,000 a day. Not all workers have healthcare insurance from the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan). “Well, such things are minimal,” AA said, laughing bitterly. (MDN/INK/BKY/ADY/ILO)