The Participation of Public, Private, and Community Members in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management

In the realm of solid waste management, the governance aspect is often overlooked by society. Whereas, the governance aspect tells more about the roles of various stakeholders more than mere policies and regulations—while it is true that these aspects are the foundation of waste management, the active participation and involvement of stakeholders is also crucial in determining the processes and practices of the whole management system.

Before the decentralization era, most of the public services in Indonesia were managed by the national government where municipal solid waste management was handled by some departments and ministries, namely Agency for Technology Assessment and Development, the Ministry of Public Works, Board of Environmental Impact Management (BAPEDAL), the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (Meidiana & Gamse, 2010). However, in 2001, when the idea of decentralization came into effect, the provincial and local governments attained more power and responsibility, especially in managing public services. Nevertheless, institutionally, essential services such as water supply and municipal solid waste (MSW) management are not entirely responsible for local governments since other stakeholders within formal sectors are jointly accountable.

Like other developing countries, Indonesia has difficulty managing MSW that keeps accumulating without proper municipal solid waste management. Of all waste generated nationally, 69% of Indonesia's trash ends up in landfills, and 10% of the waste is buried. In contrast, the other waste is being treated through the recycling process, incineration, or simply unhandled properly (Ekawati, 2016). The issue of MSW management itself gained prominence in Indonesia since 2005 when a landslide disaster happened in Leuwigajah landfill in Bandung, West Java, resulting in more than 140 deaths with 71 houses were buried, and until today the event is still perceived as an eye-opening reminder to realize a decent MSW management in Indonesia (Butler, 2013; Chaerul et al., 2006). A study conducted by Lavigne et al. (2014) describes one of the leading causes of the catastrophic event is the poor landfill management, worsened by the fact that the unstable dump was resided by marginalized scavengers—in which, by seeing the causes above, it seemed the disaster was predictable.

Primarily responsible as the policymaker, regulator, and service provider, Indonesia's government should separate political interest from MSW management, as the aspects of transparency and accountability in the public sector must be upheld. Not only that, but these aspects are also the cornerstone to build trust among stakeholders. As the policymaker and regulator, Indonesia's government has already established numerous policies, regulations, programs, and projects regarding MSW. Yet, due to poor implementation and enforcement, these strategies cannot produce proper MSW management. The data obtained from the UN Environment (2017) shows that waste minimization and collection targets in Indonesia that exist at the national level are not well-adapted by the local governments. Unfortunately, it speaks volumes about the competence of the public sector.

The different levels of capabilities performed by local governments in Indonesia prove that the decentralization concept's adoption is undeniably challenging. In addition to that, Indonesian cities have various stable waste composition depending on where we live. It can be differentiated between urban households that produce more waste; meanwhile, families in more rural areas of the country may produce more organic waste due to livestock and farmland; whereas, the waste composition determines the waste collection method. Meaning, there is no guarantee that the same approach of municipal waste collection and transport systems can be adopted throughout the country in Indonesia. Given the different levels of capabilities and unique waste treatment across the municipalities, the government may try to initiate joint forces among cities to support the investment of waste infrastructure in more significant areas that require the collaboration of some related municipal governments. Not only does this collaboration create a more efficient MSW management system, but it also can gain the economic value to attract more investors to invest in waste infrastructure and as part of the exchange of learning experiences among the local governments.

The investment in waste sector infrastructure to increase the efficiency level and decrease the cost is where the private sector should contribute. Nevertheless, its participation may not be solely translated as transfer responsibility from the public sector to the private sector. Instead, opting for good collaboration is always be the right option.

The private sector is potentially seen by the public sector as an equal actor to build and maintain a balanced relationship. Among the foremost reasons is because the private sector tends to be less bureaucratic and contains less political interests. If the cooperation between these parties comes in the form of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, the private sector's flexibility in terms of project coverage will become more apparent. In addition to that, the system allows private enterprises to engage in open competitive bidding procedures that encourage efficiency gains, as the competition itself is held to keep the prices low. However, to deliver a balanced and successful partnership between public and private sectors, some prerequisites must be met, such as an equal partnership between public and private actors, fair competition within private companies during the bidding process, regulations and incentives stability, to name a few. Besides, the private sector would be attracted to invest in MSW management if the public sector can guarantee an appropriate business environment with a proper commercial return and the willingness to share the project risks. In contrast, the public sector is most likely to be willing to engage with the private sector if the sustainable solution to improve MSW management is doable and achievable (Butler, 2013).

The involvement of the beneficiaries must be taken into account to achieve sustainable MSW management. In MSW management discourse, the recipients refer to the community members who live in a given area and use the waste sector services. Besides the tendency of having the same or similar socio-economic and cultural features, community members frequently also share a similar sanitation behavior. While community members' role is commonly neglected, their participation is highly needed in every step of the MSW management process since they have a set of intrinsic value that would help public and private sectors create solutions to waste management challenges in a specific area.

Indonesia, especially Jakarta—whose waste is mostly generated from households, has success stories involving community members in managing MSW. One of the communities is from Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, where the community leader took a creative approach to attract their community members to stop littering at a spacious street corner (Bergita, 2013). The leader created his own "waste bank" in space where the community threw their trash at, and he also made good use of inorganic waste to be purchased by manufacturers. In contrast, some organic waste would be processed into compost. Community members who deliver their debris to the waste bank would be paid Rp2,000/kg, household wastes collected by formerly unemployed waste bank officers would receive Rp500/kg. Not only would the neighborhood environment become cleaner, but also, this method can be a learning process for the community that managing MSW could gain them economic rewards. In 2013 the leader awarded Kalpataru—environmental awards given to those contributing to environmental preservation—from Jakarta provincial government.

Services and investment in the solid waste sector require significant sums of money; however, public and private sectors cannot always apply method and mechanism, especially for areas with difficult access such as slum areas or shantytown. Usually, the solution to the waste issues in these areas are handled by the community members through an organized management process. Therefore, the community members can also be perceived as critical stakeholders whom the public and private sectors consult with.

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REFERENCES

Bergita, E 2013, ‘From trash to cash: Stories of two waste banks’, PRAKARSA, Journal of the Indonesia Infrastructure Initiative, no.15, pp.29-33

Butler, K 2013, ‘Paving the way for private sector involvement in Indonesia’s municipal solid waste management’, PRAKARSA, Journal of the Indonesia Infrastructure Initiative, no.15, pp.23-28

Chaerul, M, Tanaka, M, Shekdar, A 2007, ‘Municipal solid waste management in Indonesia: Status and strategic actions’, Journal of the Faculty of Environmental Science and Technology, Okayama University, vol.12, no.1, pp.44-49

Ekawati, S 2016, ‘Mengkritisi kebijakan penanganan kantong plastik di Indonesia’, Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Badan Penelitian, Pengembangan dan InovasiPusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Sosial, Ekonomi, Kebijakan dan Perubahan Iklim, vol.10, no.6, pp. 1–4

Lavigne, F, Wassmer, P, Gomez, C, Davies, TA, Hadmoko, D.S, Iskandarsyah, T, Gaillard, Jc, Fort, M, Texier, P, Heng, M.B, and Pratomo, I 2014, ‘The 21 February 2005, catastrophic waste avalanche at Leuwigajah dumpsite, Bandung, Indonesia’, Journal of Geoenvironmental Disaster, vol.1, no.10

Meidiana, C, Gamse, T 2010,’Development of Waste Management Practices in Indonesia’, European Journal of Scientific Research, vol.40, no.2, pp. 199-210

United Nations Environment Program, 2017, Summary Report: Waste Management in ASEAN Countries, Thailand, viewed 27 July 2020, <https://environment.asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Summary-Report-Waste-Management-in-ASEAN-Countries-UNEP.pdf>

Dorman Purba. (2020). The Participation of Public, Private, and Community Members in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management. SMI Institute, PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (Persero). Diakses , dari