BANDUNG: CITY OF TRASH

Bandung, my hometown, is a city surrounded by mountains and has relatively year-around cooler temperature than most other cities in Indonesia. As the fourth largest city in Indonesia that has a total population of around 2.5 million people, the government of Bandung are facing a harsh reality. This population explosion happens because of a rapid development and urbanization that has transformed Bandung from idyllic town into a dense 15.000 people/km² metropolitan area after Indonesia's independence. Bandung has become a small metropolitan city filled with buildings. The large number of citizen, added also by the large number of tourists coming every week has continually change Bandung. Natural resources have been exploited for residential development, more vehicles were consumed but not supported by the traffic facilities, and the irresponsible attitude of Bandung’s citizens and tourists with their environment . These realities can easily cause many problems, such as traffic, flood, and the most disturbing problem recently, trash.

Bandung is in the middle of a serious garbage crisis, with 200.000 m2 of trashed piled along its streets that caused by Bandung city’s official's mismanagement. The problem, blamed on a lack of final dumping sites, has been going on for the past month. Now there are only two temporary dumping sites in Cicabe and Pasir Impun after Leuwigajah dumping site was closed because of a garbage landslide in 2004. And they are now rejecting incoming garbage. It shows that there are less dumping sites in Bandung comparing to the collection of 8.000 m³/day domestic garbage piled up. This problem causes air pollution, spread diseases, and water contamination, especially in the area around mountains of garbage that we can find almost everywhere. It also affects Bandung’s tourism. If this phenomenon continued, it’s possible that the number of tourists visiting Bandung will decrease. Fortunately, the government has start working to develop a garbage-powered electricity plant in Gedebage area as solution to trash problem. Let’s hope that the trash problem will be solved as soon as possible, because I want my hometown, Bandung that is named by people as The Flower City, back as it used to be.