Landfilling in Tropical Climates – Measures for Better

Design and Operation

Edi Munawar
Chemical Engineering Department, Syiah Kuala University

Johann Fellner
Institute for Water Quality, Resources and Waste Management, Vienna University of
Technology

Abstract
Landfilling is still the predominant method for municipal solid waste (MSW)
management many part of the world. Especially in developing countries this method
represents the only feasible option for final MSW disposal, however, is associated with a
significant risk of environmental pollution. The major issues in this context are leachate and
biogas emissions. Both emissions depend on the composition of the waste, the climatic
conditions at the site as well as the design, operation and management of the landfill. They
differ significantly in tropical climates to conditions prevailing in dry and temperate climate
regions. As widely acknowledged, the major problem of landfills in tropical climate countries
is improper design and operation often as a consequence of limited financial resources, which
results in environmental as well as health risks. The current paper presents results of a recent
research project that was aimed at investigating the major challenges of landfill operation and
management under tropical climatic conditions. The research was funded by the project grant
of the International Solid Waste Association ISWA and was conducted in cooperation
between Vienna University of Technology (Austria) and Syiah Kuala University (Indonesia).
In addition to an extensive literature review concerning landfilling in tropical climates the
project included direct investigations about 12 MSW landfills, a 2–day workshop with
stakeholders in Indonesia, as well as the development of guidelines for the design and
operation of landfills in tropical climates. The present paper summarizes the current practice
of landfilling in Indonesia and tries to highlight main shortcomings.

Keywords: MSW landfill; Developing countries; Tropical climate; Landfill guidelines;

Indonesia

Introduction
In most major Indonesian cities high population growth has resulted in increasing
pressure on the environment affecting people’s quality of life especially due to water
pollution and poor sanitary and hygiene conditions. All of those problems are common in
urban areas and often result from improper municipal waste (MSW) management. Future
MSW generation is expected to increase proportionally to the population growth rate. Over
the last decade the Indonesian population has increased by more than 30 million, from 205

1
million in 2000 to almost 240 million in 2010, with an average growth rate of approximately
1.5% per year (BPS, 2011). Most people reside in major cities, such as Jakarta, Surabaya,
Medan, Bandung, Semarang and other big cities. Jakarta is the capital and the most populated
city across Indonesia with a population density of about fourteen thousand inhabitants per
square kilometer (BPS, 2011). The population keeps growing significantly every year, on the
one hand due to high birth rates and on the other hand due to massive urbanization
movements.
On average every Indonesian generates about 0.76 kg/day of MSW (Chaerul et al.,
2007). Thus, the total amount of waste produced in 2010 was estimated to approximately 66
million tons. On national level estimated that only 56% of total MSW generated is collected
and transported to final disposal sites by waste management authorities and private
companies, which are hired by residents living in middle class and luxury residential areas
(MoE, 2008). Most of the population in rural areas does not benefit from waste collection
services. Usually MSW is just burned or dumped in open space or in rivers. Only a small
fraction of MSW generated is recycled, whereby informal recycling carried out by
scavengers. Scavenging activities are taking place along the entire waste stream, starting from
initial sources (e.g. household, market, public facilities, etc.) until the final disposal site.
However, the overall recycling rate is very low, since recyclable materials are often mixed
with other MSW components, which makes recycling difficult.
Since most collected MSW is transported to final disposal sites, reliable landfill
operation and management is crucial for the overall environmental performance of MSW
management in Indonesia. This paper summarizes results of field observations at 12 landfill
sites in major cities in Indonesia. It focuses on three main aspects of landfill operation and
management: (i) site location and basic design, (ii) daily landfill operation and management,
and (iii) post closure maintenance plan. These aspects are discussed and compared with the
regulation requirements according to Indonesian waste laws.

Method and Scope of Study

12 MSW landfills in 10 metropolitan and big cities were selected to investigate the
current practice of landfill management. The landfills investigated include 3 sites in Sumatra,
8 sites in Java, and 1 site in Bali. They cover about 20% of Indonesian population, which in
total amounts to 240 million inhabitants with an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per
capita of about US$ 4,400, which is in the range of the average global GDP per capita about

2
US$ 3,494 (World Bank, 2012). Figure 1 show the locations of the landfills, which were
observed during the period January to February 2012.
Prior to the field visit, questionnaires were distributed to the respective competent
waste management authority in charge of the selected landfills. The questions focused on
basic design of the landfills, landfill operation and management, as well as post closure
maintenance plans. In addition, several questions addressed problems frequently faced by
landfill operator. Subsequently the questionnaire results were verified during field visit
through interview with landfill operators, workers and scavengers. A combination of open–
and close–ended interview was adopted in order to obtain high reliability information.

Figure 1 The locations of observed landfills during the period January to February 2012

Results and Discussion

Brief description of observed landfill
12 MSW landfill were observed directly by the author. A simple measurement such as
geographic positioning system (GPS) coordinate and altitudes of the landfill site were
measured to complement data obtained from the questionnaires and interviews with waste
management authorities, persons in charge and workers, as well as with scavengers on site.
The general information of observed landfills are described in the following paragraphs and
summarized in Table 1.
Gampong Jawa landfill is the final disposal site for MSW generated in Banda Aceh
city, the capital of Aceh province. The disposal area of this site is about 9 ha to 20 ha. The
landfill site is located in a swamp area in the northern coast of Sumatra Island, therefore all
MSW disposed between 1996 and 2004 was swept away by the tsunami in 2004. After the
tsunami disaster, the Aceh government supported by the United Nation Development

3
Program (UNDP) rebuilt this landfill as temporary disposal site for millions of tons of
demolition waste caused by the tsunami wave. However, when this study was conducted the
Gampong Jawa temporary disposal site was still in operation as final disposal site of MSW
from Banda Aceh city and Aceh Besar district, since the construction of new landfills has not
been completed yet.
Namo Bintang and Terjun Marelan landfills are final disposal site for MSW generated
in Medan city. Medan city is the capital of North Sumatra province, and the largest city
outside of Java Island with 2.1 million inhabitants (BPS, 2011, MoHA, 2012). MSW
generated in the southern part of the city was disposed into Namo Bintang landfill, while the
MSW from the northern part city was transported to Terjun Marelan landfill. The Namo
Bintang landfill is located in Namo Bintang village, 14 km southwest of the city centre. This
landfill has an area of 17.6 ha without a zoning system. The landfill site was constructed in a
valley at an altitude of about 74 meters above sea level. This site started operation in 1987 as
main disposal site for MSW from Medan city until the Terjun Marelan landfill was
constructed in 1993. The Terjun Marelan landfill is located 21.6 km opposite of the Namo
Bintang landfill. This landfill has a total area of about 13.7 ha, which is divided in 3 zones.
The site is located in a very flat area at an altitude of about 13 meters above sea level. The
landfill is surrounded by palm oil plantation and fish ponds.
The Bantar Gebang landfill is the final disposal site for MSW generated in Jakarta city,
the capital of Jakarta Capital City region and Indonesia. This region is comprises of 5
municipalities covering an area of 664 km² with a total population of 9.6 million inhabitants
(BPS, 2011, MoHA, 2012). The Bantar Gebang landfill has a total area of 110 ha and is
divided into 5 zones. Each zone is equipped with a leachate treatment plant. The MSW
generated in Jakarta city is collected and transported to this landfill, which is located about 27
km southeast of the city centre. Since its opening in 1989 this landfill has received
approximately 6,000 tons per day of domestic and non–hazardous industrial waste. After 20
years, this landfill reached its final capacity of about 9 million m³ of waste. However, the
Jakarta government decided to extend landfill operations by another 15 years due to
difficulties to find a new landfill site. The landfilling of MSW is carried out at the top of
existing waste layers.
The Sumur Batu landfill is the final disposal site for MSW generated in Bekasi city and
Bekasi district. These cities are situated in the satellite area of Jakarta city. Therefore, the
population density of these cities is much higher in comparison to other Indonesian
municipalities. The total population of Bekasi city and Bekasi district amounts to 4.9 million
4
(BPS, 2011, MoHA, 2012). The Sumur Batu landfill is located next to the Bantar Gebang
landfill. The construction of Sumur Batu landfill has started in 2001 and the site went into
operation in the middle of 2002. This landfill covers an area of 10 ha, which is divided into 2
zones with total capacity of approximately 2.5 million m³ of MSW. Zone 1 has reached its
final capacity in 2007, with a total amount of MSW landfilled of 650,000 tons.
Bandung metropolitan area with an area of 3,280 km² is served by one landfill, namely
the Sari Mukti landfill. In the past another landfill, which was located just on the border of
Bandung city, was available. This landfill, the so called Leuwi Gajah landfill, is located in
Leuwi Gajah village. The site covers an area of 71 ha. The landfill was situated at steep
hillside with a slope of more than 30%. In immediate neighborhood to the landfill hundreds
of houses were located. Since its opening in beginning 1987 the Leuwi Gajah landfill was
operated as open dump. Until its closure time, approximately 1.8 million tons of MSW have
been disposed (BPSR, 2012).
The Leuwi Gajah landfill represents a symbol for the “dark history” of landfill
operation in Indonesian. A tragic accident happened at the site in late of February 2005, when
the disposed waste slides down the hill and buried hundreds of houses at the foot of the hill. It
was reported that 143 peoples died and hundreds were injured by the “garbage avalanche”.
An investigation report of the accident claimed that the waste slide was caused by low
strange of the waste at the bottom of landfill due to its high water content. Other researchers
concluded that the site location with its steep slope of more than 30% and together with
inappropriate landfill operation, particularly low waste compaction, must be blamed for the
collapse of the waste piles. Most likely the combination of high water content of the waste at
the landfill bottom due to poor drainage, low waste compaction and the steep slope at the site
caused the tragic accident.
The Leuwi Gajah disaster had direct impact on the MSW management in Bandung
metropolitan area, as only a limited volume of the waste, which is collected, can be
transported to other landfill sites due to their limited capacity. As a consequence of this
situation there are waste piles at every open place in Bandung city. This period of the landfill
accident and the following insufficient management of MSW is called the “Bandung Ocean
Rubbish” in reference to “Bandung Ocean Fire”, the worst war occurred in Bandung history
when colonial aggressions were repelled at the beginning of independence in 1946.
To solve this problem the government has built a temporary disposal site, the so called
Sari Mukti landfill. This landfill is situated in an industrial forest area, 31 km northwest of
Bandung city. The landfill started operation in the middle of 2006 with a total area of 25.2 ha,
5
that is divided into 4 zones. However, Bandung government is still looking for another place
to construct a new landfill. Hence, the Sari Mukti landfill is still operated and accepts about
1,200 tons of MSW per day (BPSR, 2011).
The Piyungan landfill is the official landfill of Yogyakarta and its surrounding area.
Yogyakarta is capital of Yogyakarta state. This city is surrounded by Bantul and Sleman
district with a total area of 1,115 km² and 2.4 million inhabitants (BPS, 2011, MoHA, 2012).
Piyungan landfill is located in Bendo village, about 10 km southeast of Yogyakarta city. The
site location is located in a hilly area (about 320 meters above sea level) with limestone as
major component of the base layer. This landfill has a total area of 12.5 ha and is divided into
3 zones. The landfill started operation in 1995 and it was expected to be closed in 2012.
However, so far the government has not been able to find a suitable site to construct a new
landfill. So, it is expected that the landfill operation will be extended until at least 2015.
The Jati Barang landfill is an official landfill of Semarang city, the capital and a
metropolitan city in Central Java province. The Semarang city covers an area of 374 km² with
1.5 million inhabitants (BPS, 2011, MoHA, 2012). The Jati Barang landfill was located in
Jati Barang village, about 7.5 km southwest of Semarang city. This landfill covers a total area
of 43 ha, which is divided into 5 zones. 60% of total area is used for waste disposal and the
remaining part for leachate treatment ponds and buffer zone. The landfill site is located in a
hilly area with a slope of more than 20%. The landfill started operation in 1992 and it was
expected to be closed in 2008. However, so far the landfill is still in operation and there was
no information available until when the landfill operation will be extended, and when and
where the new landfill site will be constructed.
The Supit Urang landfill is the official landfill of Malang city, the second large cities in
the East Java region. This city is surrounded by Malang district. In total the region covers an
area about of 1,324 km² and about 2.5 million inhabitants are living there (BPS, 2011,
MoHA, 2012). The Supit Urang landfill is located in Supit Urang village, about 6 km outside
of Malang city. The landfill surface amounts to 12.5 ha. The site is divided into 4 disposal
zones. Waste disposal started in 1993 and was originally planned to be terminated in 2004.
However, also this landfill site is still in operation, as no new landfill site has been
constructed so far. According to an interview conducted with the landfill operator, the landfill
operation is extended until 2017 and the area was expanded to be 20 ha.
The Benowo landfill is the official landfill site of Surabaya city, the capital of East Java
province and the second largest city within Indonesian cities after Jakarta city. The city
covers an area of 326 km² and is populated by more than 2.7 million inhabitants (BPS, 2011,
6
MoHA, 2012). Surabaya city can be regarded as the centre for business, commerce, industry,
and education in eastern Indonesia. The MSW generated in Surabaya city is disposed into
Benowo landfill, which is located about 12 km southeast of the city centre. The landfill was
constructed at a swamp area with an altitude of less than 2 meters above sea level and close to
the sea. Like many other landfills, the Benowo landfill operation has also been extended from
initial planned closing time in 2010 until 2014.
The Suwung landfill is the official landfill of Denpasar area, which is the capital of Bali
province. This city is surrounded by Badung and Gianyar districts, favorite destinations for
both local and foreign tourists. This landfill is the only disposal site for MSW generated in
Denpasar city, Badung and Gianyar of total area of 914 km² and 1.8 million inhabitants (BPS,
2011, MoHA, 2012). The landfill site is located in the Suwung Kauh village, about 6 km
south of Denpasar city. Actually, the site location is reclaimed as tidal land for protected
forest. Nevertheless, the State Ministry of Forestry has allowed the local government to use
the site as landfill for MSW. However, since it opening in 1984 the Suwung landfill area has
been expanded several times, starting from 10 ha up to 38 ha at present.

Site location
There are three main aspects that must be consider when selecting a location for a new
landfill, namely environmental, economic, and public acceptance aspects. Economic aspects
include the distance from MSW generation sources to the landfill site, the size of the landfill,
land prices and the availability of land. Environmental aspects to consider are related to the
potential environmental threat of landfill operation. They include site topography, drainage,
soils, geohydrology and adjacent landuse. Public acceptance is another very important issue
since landfill operation will potentially have negative impacts on human health, and will
reduce the value of land and property in the surrounding area.

Table 1 General information of observed landfill

Landfill site Operator Opening Closing year Total area No of Landfill location Altitude
year (planned) (ha) zones (GPS coordinate) (m)
Gampong Jawa loc. govt. 2009 2013 20 1 5° 34' 43.76" N, 95° 18' 58.43" E 2
Namo Bintang loc. govt. 1987 2013 17.6 1 3° 43' 09.03" N, 98° 38' 58.74" E 69
Terjun Marelan loc. govt. 1993 2013 14 3 3° 29' 47.64" N, 98° 36' 51.53" E 4
Bantar Gebang pvt. comp. 1989 – 110 5 6° 20' 44.88" S, 106° 59' 40.68" E 37
Sumur Batu loc. govt. 2002 – 10 1 6° 20' 41.04" S, 106° 59' 59.22" E 37
Leuwi Gajah loc. govt. 1987 2005 70.8 1 6° 54' 40.68" S, 107° 31' 13.26" E 769
Sari Mukti loc. govt. 2006 2014 25.2 4 6° 48' 03.06" S, 107° 20' 59.64" E 337
Piyungan loc. govt. 1995 2015 12.5 3 7° 52' 11.29" S, 110° 25' 46.87" E 99
Jati Barang loc. govt. 1994 – 46 3 7° 01' 18.30" S, 110° 21' 30.06" E 117
Supit Urang loc. govt. 1993 2017 19.2 4 7° 59' 00.78" S, 112° 34' 34.14" E 546
Benowo loc. govt. 2001 2014 37.5 6 7° 13' 09.90" S, 112° 37' 42.78" E 3
Suwung loc. govt. 1986 – 38 5 8° 43' 15.13" S, 115° 13' 13.31" E 4

7
 From field visit can be concluded that for some of the investigated landfill site the
above mentioned aspects were considered, but for others not at all (see Table 2). For instance,
Gampong Jawa, Benowo, and Suwung landfills are located in very low area and situated by
the fish pounds. Hence, they are potentially to threat the human health through food chain,
since leachate generated during organic decomposition of disposed MSW could migrate and
polluted fish pounds. From an economic point of view most observed landfills are located far
outside the cities and hence require long transport distances for the waste. This leads to
significant cost increases for MSW management, since transportation costs to landfills are
particularly high in comparison to other countries.
Although landfills have been originally located far outside the cities, at most sites
visited residential areas were very close. These settlements however were in most cases
founded after the landfills have started operation. In particular these settlements are occupied
by people collecting and sorting waste at the landfill site. Some of them are built on waste
piles itself.

Basic requirements regarding landfill design

A physical separation between disposed waste and the surface and ground water
regimes is fundamental for any landfill designs. This is a first step to prevent environmental
pollution hazards emanating from MSW landfill operation. In practice this separation should
be accomplished by a base lining system. In affluent countries, landfill regulations often
require a composite liner as base liner. This composite liner usually consists of a clay layer
(of 40 to 80 cm thickness) and a high density polyethylene (HDPE) sheet. However, this
system is expensive and often not affordable for landfill operations in developing countries.

Table 2 Type of site location and distance to neighbourhood

Landfill site Site location Distances to (km)
settlement city centre school health airport water source
centre
Gampong Jawa Coastal area 0.3 3.5 1 2.5 13 < 0.1
Namo Bintang Hilly area 0.3 13.2 0.5 2.1 12 1.5
Terjun Marelan Swam area 0.3 15 1.4 1.5 17 < 0.1
Bantar Gebang Flat area 0.1 26.8 0.5 2 45 < 0.1
Sumur Batu Flat area 0.1 10. 3 0.5 2 45 < 0.1
Leuwi Gajah Hilly area 0.2 9.6 0.5 2.1 6.6 2. 7
Sari Mukti Hilly area 2 32 2 14 28 < 0.1
Piyungan Hilly area < 0.1 11 1 3 9.4 1
Jati Barang Hilly area 0.4 7.1 1 1.8 5.4 < 0.1
Supit Urang Hilly area 0.4 5.9 1 3.7 16 3.4
Benowo Swam area 1.3 12 1.6 3 10 1
Suwung Coastal area < 0.1 6.2 1.4 1.8 10 0.2

8
However, in case that no appropriate soil layers of low permeability are present at the
selected site, the option of composite liners should be considered. A cheaper option, however,
would be to select a site whose soil layers are already characterized by low hydraulic
permeability.
From the field visits it became obvious that the landfills were originally designed with
an adequate baseliner system. For example, although the Piyungan, Jati Barang, and Supit
Urang landfills were constructed only with a single liner, this baseliner system can be
considered as sufficient to prevent groundwater pollution, as these landfills were located in
areas with natural clay layer as major soils component. The Gampong Jawa, Bantar Gebang,
Sumur Batu, Benowo and Suwung landfills, however, had to be constructed with a composite
baseliner, as these landfills are located at sites with sandy loam as major soils component.
This practice is also in accordance with the Indonesia standard for MSW landfill site
selection, which requires a hydraulic conductivity of the baseliner below 10–6 cm/s. In case
that the present soil layer at the selected site is characterized by higher conductivity, an
adequate baseliner should be introduced to meet the requirement of 10–6 m/s (BSN, 1994).
This national standard also requires the landfill site not to be located in a Holocene fault and
at least three meters above the groundwater table. Table 3 summarizes the characteristics of
the baseliner and other basic facilities of the inspected landfills.

Landfill Operation and Management

The objective of landfilling is to dispose MSW in an environmentally friendly and
socially acceptable manner. To reach this goal, many issues in daily landfill operation must
be paid attention to. These include measuring and record keeping of incoming waste,
unloading waste into designated working face, compacting waste, daily cover application,
leachate treatment, and landfill gas management. From direct inspections it becomes obvious
that for all visited landfill very little attention was paid to these aspects. At most sites visited
landfill practice can be classified as open dumping rather than controlled landfilling, as there
is no daily coverage of the disposed waste. Detailed information about the prevailing landfill
practice is summarized in the following paragraph.
Although most observed landfill sites were equipped with a weighbridge, only at the
Sari Mukti, Bantar Gebang, and Piyungan landfill incoming waste has been weighted and
recorded. There they recorded information about the waste source, waste type, and quantity
and arrival time. Based on the interview with landfill operators we were able to get
information about the reasons for the detailed record keeping. Mainly the data were recorded
9
for financial purpose, different municipalities are served by one landfill and they have to
share operational as wells as construction costs of the landfill. At the other landfill sites,
however, no weighing or recordkeeping was conducted, as usually only one municipality or
province is served by each landfill. In these areas total waste generation rates are estimated
based on the number of population and per–capita waste generation rates.
Some of the visited landfills are situated in areas with sufficient quantities of cover
materials, while others had no cover material at all. However, application of cover material
was accomplished in irregular intervals at all sites. There are two main reasons for not or
irregularly covering the landfill. Firstly, lack of financial resources for landfill operation and
management. This is most evident for landfill located in areas where cover material is not
available on site (e.g. the Gampong Jawa, Namo Bintang, Terjun Marelan, Bantar Gebang,
Sumur Batu, Benowo, and Suwung landfills). For these landfills cover material would have to
be transported from other areas. Secondly, all landfill operators are practicing an
inappropriate method for unloading the waste. While it is generally recommended to keep the
working face as small as possible, at all inspected landfills the active area ranged from 2 to 4
ha. In order to reduce the amount of daily cover soil and thus the costs of waste coverage, it is
crucial to minimize the working face. At some landfill visited the operator claimed that they
apply a cover soil once a year.

Table 3 Basic design of observed landfill

Landfill site Baseliner type Leachate treatment Landfill Gas Weighbridge Fencing &
management gate
* ‡
Gampong Jawa Composite liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation Yes Partially
*
Namo Bintang Single liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds No ventilation No n/a
*
Terjun Marelan Single liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation No Partially
Bantar Gebang Composite liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Active ventilation w/ Yes Partially
LFG turbine
Sumur Batu Composite liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Active ventilation w/ Yes Partially
LFG flaring
Leuwi Gajah No liner – No ventilation No n/a
*
Sari Mukti Single liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation Yes Partially
*
Piyungan Single liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation Yes Partially
*
Jati Barang Single liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation Yes Partially
*
Supit Urang Single liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation Yes Partially
†
Benowo Composite liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Passive ventilation Yes Around site
†
Suwung Composite liner Aerobic and anaerobic ponds Active ventilation w/ Yes Partially
‡
LFG turbine
*aerator in aerobic pond is missing
†
only partly aerator in aerobic pond is work
‡
under construction

In general, all visited landfills are equipped with multi stage aerobic and anaerobic
ponds to treat leachate generated. Moreover, the leachate treatment facility in some landfills
has already been equipped with chemical and physical treatment to increase the treatment
efficiency (e.g. Bantar Gebang and Benowo landfills). However, the field visits indicated that

10
almost all leachate treatment facilities were operated not in the way as it was originally
planned. In some landfills, only a few aerators in aerobic ponds were operatedAt others
aerators were not installed at all. Again operational costs were used as an important argument
for the insufficient operation of aeration ponds.
Almost all landfill observed were originally designed with passive Landfill Gas LFG
ventilation (see Table 3), hence LFG produced will be directly released to atmosphere
without any treatment. However, since 2009 the LFG management in Bantar Gebang and
Sumur Batu landfills has been improved, and active ventilation has been installed. The
installed gas wells were connected with blower to suck LFG from landfill site to gas
collection chamber. In the Bantar Gebang landfill, the collected LFG is used as a fuel for a
gas engine to generate electricity. The amount of electricity generated from Bantar Gebang
and Suwung landfill are projected to 14 and 9.6 MW/h, respectively. The LFG management
at these sites is also equipped with a high temperature flare in order to burn the excessive
landfill gas beyond the gas engine capacity. Whilst in the Sumur Batu landfill, the LFG
management system was equipped without a gas engine. The collected LFG at this site is
only combusted in high temperature flare. All of these improvements were carried out under
support of foreign governments in frame of clean development mechanism (CDM).
Although scavenging at landfills is forbidden at all landfills visited waste pickers were
present. There is no information about the exact number of scavengers at each landfill, since
they are not registered. However, the Ministry of Cooperative, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MoCSM) estimated that 5000 to 6000 scavengers are living and working on site
at Bantar Gebang landfill in Jakarta. In 2008, the total number of scavengers in Indonesia was
estimated to more than 1.2 million. The scavengers who are living at the landfill site usually
pick up waste during the whole day, while those who are living outside the landfill consider
waste picking as their second job. Beside scavengers also animals are grazing at many sites.
For instance, hundreds of cattle were grazing on two visited landfills, searching food in
landfilled waste (see Table 4).
Finally, since all observed landfills are still in operation, there is only rare information
with regards to landfill closure and final cover application available. Only in some parts of
the landfills where landfilling has been completed, the waste has been covered with final soil
cover. In the Bantar Gebang and Sumur Batu landfill, a composite layer of geo–membrane
and soil has been applied. The installation of the final cover is not only necessary for
environmentally friendly waste disposal purposes but it is also important to reduce air
infiltration into the waste body during active LFG extraction.
11
Summary and Conclusion

Soils & geo membrane†

Soils & geo membrane
Soils & geo membrane
Final cover application
The analysis of Indonesian landfill
management indicate that despite the fact

Soils partly

Soils partly
Soils partly
Not yet
Not yet
Not yet

Not yet
that most landfills were originally

Soils
No
designed as engineered landfills, they are
generally operated as open or controlled

Grazing
animals
dumps. Daily soil cover for instance is

Yes
Yes

Yes
No
No
No
No
No

No

No
No
irregularly applied, mainly due to

Scavenging
financial restrictions. Leachate is

activity

*
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
collected as most sites are equipped with a
base lining system. Leachate treatment

Daily cover
application
Irregularly

Irregularly
Irregularly
Irregularly

Irregularly
Irregularly
Irregularly
Irregularly
Irregularly
Irregularly
facilities (i.e. aerobic and anaerobic

No

No
ponds), however, are operated at a low
efficiency. This becomes obvious as
compacting
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
aerobic ponds are either not aerated at all
Waste

or only at very low rate. Limited financial

resources as well as the lack of
treatment
Table 4 Key factor landfill operation of observed landfill
Waste

Partly

Partly

Partly
environmental inspections by competent
No
No
No

No
No

No

No
No
No
authorities are the main reasons for this
practice observed at the landfills
keeping
Record

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes
investigated.
No
No
No

No

No
No

Higher tipping fees for waste,

Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Mixed waste
Incoming

appropriate site selection with regards to

waste

still have until this study conducted

shorter transport distances and natural

barrier soil, instead of artificial liners as
Gampong Jawa

Bantar Gebang
Terjun Marelan
Namo Bintang

under construction
Leuwi Gajah
Sumur Batu

Supit Urang
Jati Barang
Landfill site

well as better disposal management (i.e.

Sari Mukti
Piyungan

Benowo
Suwung

minimizing working face) could

†
*

sufficiently increase financial resources

for landfill operation, and hence allow a more environmentally friendly waste disposal in
Indonesia.

Acknowledgements
This work was pounded by International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) thru
Establishing a Landfill Training and Research Centre (ELTReC) project scheme to promote a
12
better operation of landfills in Indonesia. The authors are grateful for waste management
authorities in facilitating observation activities and providing valuable data.

Corresponding author:
Edi Munawar
Chemical Engineering Department, Syiah Kuala University
Jl. Tgk. Syech Abdul Rauf 7, Banda Aceh 23111
Indoensia
E–mail : edi.munawar@che.unsyiah.ac.id

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