Garbage Recycler at Work

A middleman collector sorting out garbage for recycling in his small workshop in West Bandung.

Unlike in developed countries, garbage recycling is a labor extensive business in Bandung and in Indonesia in general. Recyclable garbage -- that with plastic, metal, or glass components -- is collected from homes or the streets by traveling scavengers. These scavengers typically sell their 'harvest' to a middleman who then sell them to a wholesale collectors. These wholesale collectors do the sorting, cleaning, and packaging before selling it to the recycling factories.

The government is not involved in the process. Everything is done by individuals and private entrepreneurs. Garbage recycling is a big business that provides a source of income to many who are involved.

Plastic Bag Dieting

Pasar Seni ITB 2010 (The 2010 ITB Art Market) event was also used by the students to campaign against the excessive use of plastic bags.

This plastic-bag man who carried a banner saying "Start Plastic-Bag Dieting Now!" and his partner Captain Bagoes - a green super hero who fights against excessive use of plastic bags - were a favorite among the visitors. Many of them wanted to have their photo taken with them because they looked unique and attractive in their costumes. I hope their attractive appearance and the photo ops would help spread the message of how pressing the issue of plastic bag pollution is to the city.

According to the banner carried by the plastic-bag man, about 600 - 700 cubic meters of plastic bag garbage is used and dumped in this city per day. That amount is equal to the weight of 100 elephants. If the average weight of an elephant is four tons, then the number is about 400 tons. That is a seriously threatening weight of pollution to the city considering that plastic is a non-biodegradable material. It takes hundreds and some even say thousands of years for plastic to be degraded by nature. So, the message is very urgently proper and pressing: limit the use of plastic bags NOW!