Indonesia is particularly infamous for its poor waste management infrastructure. Landfills, like Jakarta’s own Bantang Gebang, are stories high, with no real public solutions to effectively reduce the constant influx of waste nor manage the tons of existing pileups. As a result, residents must take matters into their own hands.
Despite a survey noting that 84% of Indonesians are said to prefer sustainable or eco-friendly products, showing a move towards positive consumer choices, the national recycling rate remains low. However, the crucial factor remains how we can responsibly dispose of our waste, and going green in Jakarta is still somewhat of a mystery to those looking to improve their personal waste contributions and general environmental footprint.
That’s why NOW! Jakarta has curated a list of organizations and programs focused on waste management and effective recycling, in the hopes of sharing the great solutions that are accessible now for individuals, households and even businesses.
Recycling in Jakarta | Electronic Waste Disposal | Composting in Jakarta
Recycling in Jakarta
Rekosistem
Climate technology startup Rekosistem offers waste management and recycling services to optimise the waste value chain across the board, with services for individuals, homes and businesses. Focusing mainly on inorganic waste, these are then prepared for proper recycling.
Rekosistem has dedicated ‘Waste Stations’ across the city, allowing individuals to deposit their inorganic waste at their own convenience. These are located using the Rekosistem App, through which individuals can also track their recycled waste from these ‘Drop-ins’, and they can rack up Rekopoints as well, which can be exchanged for vouchers or even GoPay, adding more incentive to recycle. The Rekosistem application can be used by people living in Jakarta, South Tangerang, Blitar, Cirebon, and Semarang.
The organisation also offers pickup services as part of their Repick Cluster program. Through a click of a button, you can organise for your sorted inorganic waste to be picked up (once a week) for free for residents living in the areas of Alam Sutera, Lippo Karawaci, Gading Serpong, Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD), Bintaro. A separate Repickup Bisnis service is also available, with waste collection ready for registered individual businesses who will also receive a digestible and easy to read report.
Mallsampah
Before any formal recycling infrastructure in Indonesia, local collectors and scavengers have been the traditional ‘filters’ for valuable and recyclable materials that have made it into landfills or our street side bins. An estimated 3,000,000+ people work in this capacity, according Mallsampah, who utilise this long-existing network to reach waste across widespread areas.
Mallsampah uses technology to bring an informal sector into the digital economy and ecosystem, thus not only creating an effective recycling service, but also improved opportunities for income. The process is simple: take a photo of your recyclable waste, upload it into the Mallsampah App, along with a specific location and chosen collection time, and wait for a local collector or scavenger to pick it up.
Upon arrival they will weigh and pay for your garbage in cash or MS Points which can be used on Electricity Tokens, Credit, PDAM, BPJS and more. Mallsampah also has a network of drop off points for recyclable waste.
Mallsampah offers a free subscription for businesses looking to recycle as well, complete with recycling reports access in real time. Perhaps the most reward thing about working with Mallsampah is the socio-economic impact, empowering local scavengers while increasing the national recycling rate.
Duitin
Similar to other waste management platforms, the Duitin App invites people to be more active in sorting, collecting, and managing waste. This waste collection application provides a practical solution for its Contributor users to deposit non-organic waste at their fingertips. Through the Duitin app, you as a Contributor can set the time for garbage pickup at home by a Duitin Picker.
The types of waste that can be deposited also vary, ranging from plastic, cardboard, multilayered boxes, chopsticks, glass, aluminum cans, and even used cooking oil. Once the Duitin Picker arrives, they will confirm the sorted recyclables and do the weighing.
Once the transaction is complete, you get incentives that can be redeemed or exchanged for various digital products like coins and badges. Of course, the more you actively deposit your waste and invite your friends to use this app, the more rewards you get.
Electronic Waste Disposal
RETRON
Providing Indonesia with a body to consistently and properly tackle electronic waste (e-waste) such as electronic devices, IT devices and data centres; RETRON offers an easy way to recycle e-waste properly and responsibly, in order to inherit a good Earth for tomorrow’s generation.
Anyone at any scale can use RETRON’s professional e-waste management and collection services. After being contacted, RETRON’s agents will carry out the pickup and deliver the e-waste to the official factory to be recycled by professional technicians with international standard processes. By sorting e-waste by category, they minimise the waste produced as much as possible. Afterwards, the recycling results will be reported to you with full transparency.
In addition to its easy process, RETRON provides a profitable solution for businesses and companies in recycling electronic waste. When RETRON gets an IT device in the form of storage hardware, they will completely erase the data to preserve your privacy.
Dinas Lingkungan Hidup Provinsi DKI Jakarta
Got electronic waste? Dinas Lingkungan Hidup Provinsi DKI Jakarta provides convenience for Jakarta residents who are confused about how to dispose of their e-waste. The pick-up program is intended to make it easier for Jakarta residents with e-waste in the form of used electronic goods, such as TVs, cellphones, refrigerators, washing machines, fans, air conditioners, computers, laptops, microwaves and the like.
The registration process to pick up the e-waste is also easy; the public only needs to fill out the e-waste pick-up request form on their website. To qualify for the e-waste pick-up service requirements, you must be an individual resident of DKI Jakarta – not an agency, the e-waste must weigh at least 5kg and be placed in a location that facilitates transportation, like your house porch, terrace or car garage.
Composting in Jakarta
Rekompos
One of the products created by Rekosistem is Rekompos, an easy-to-use composting kit that helps you manage your organic waste at home. The purchasable composting kit includes a 20-litre bucket made entirely using upcycled plastic, plus natural, environmentally friendly components that help with the necessary anaerobic processes.
Priced at IDR 275.000 (available on Tokopedia and Shopee), the at-home system is best for non-animal organic waste. In order to effectively breakdown the waste the kit comes with: Carbon: Burnt Rice Husk (500 gr), Nitrogen: Coffee Grounds (250 gr), EM4 / Bioactivator (500 ml) and a Sprayer (500 ml). You’ll also receive seeds for planting and watch your waste bring new life into the world!
Kamibox
Similar to the aforementioned recycling services, Kamibox also offers waste pick up and drop offs at their warehouses located in Kembangan, West Jakarta, as well as Cisauk, Tangerang. They collect a wide range of waste from glass, paper and card, metals, plastic, some electronic waste and, often forgotten, used cooking oil. Disposing of used cooking oil in an environmentally friendly manner can be done through their App or website.
