Bekasi produces more waste over Idul Fitri holiday

News24xx.com - Even though many residents of Bekasi, West Java, left the city last week to travel to their hometowns for Idul Fitri, the production of waste in the municipality has increased over the past few days, an official has said.

Bekasi Environment Agency head Jumhana Luthfie said that during the holiday the amount of waste disposed of at the Sumurbatu landfill reached 2,000 tons per day from the usual 1,800 per day as a result of increasing holiday activities.

It was reported that 556,000 out of 2.4 million residents stayed in the city.

“The waste produced by people who didn’t join the homecoming exodus increased ahead of and after Idul Fitri,” he said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Sunday.

He added that residents’ increased spending during the festivities resulted in the increase of waste, most of which was food scraps and plastic.

He said that to manage the waste, his agency deployed personnel during the holiday to work in shifts. “As compensation, we pay them IDR 75,000 (USD 5.65) per day,” he said.