Public Awareness About Trash
Health and cleanliness in an environment are one of several factors for healthy, comfortable and clean life continuation. The lack of public awareness in waste issue can cause problems for the environment, disruption of public health, natural disasters such as floods, pollution of water flow, air and many more. The state of a healthy, clean and comfortable environment is not the responsibility of the government but the responsibility of all levels of society, of course starting from oneself.
Personal cleanliness is a reflection of a person's life whether that person the lazy or diligent. How can people who are lazy to clean themselves can be aware about the cleanliness of the environment around them? As we all know a big thing starts from the small ones. Likewise maintaining cleanliness. After keeping yourself clean, cleanliness in a family and community environment will be created.
The low level of public awareness of maintaining cleanliness in the community can be seen from the way they dispose of garbage. Do people dispose of rubbish in its place, along rivers, or even on roadsides. According to (Ridwan HR, 2011: 291) In raising public awareness of waste management, law enforcement is needed. Therefore law means regulation contains values and concepts of justice, truth, social benefits and so on. Quoted from CNN Indonesia, from the Ministry of Health's research data, it is known that only 20 percent of the total Indonesian people care about hygiene and health. It means from 262 million people in Indonesia, only about 52 million people concern for the cleanliness of the surrounding environment and its impact on health.
As mentioned before, the serious impact of the lack public awareness in maintaining cleanliness will be felt. Starting from an uncomfortable environment to live in because it is dirty which can cause diseases such as acute respiratory infections (ARI) and diarrhea are the two main diseases caused by an unsanitary environment. and it will also cause a bigger disaster like floods. Flood disaster is not only caused by heavy rains. but because people littered in the river and it causes a problem for a river stream, so that the volume of water overflowed into residential areas.
The results of a survey conducted by the Katadata Insight Center (KIC) shows households that sort waste in Indonesia only reach 49.2 percent. The survey was conducted on 354 respondents in five major cities, Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. Based on the survey results, the 50.8 percent of households did not sort their waste, 79 percent of them said they did not want to be bothered. He added that 17 percent of respondents who did not sort the waste, their waste would be mixed in the garbage disposal (TPS) or final disposal site (TPA). Meanwhile, as many as 3 percent said that the separation was useless. Another one percent gave different reasons.
The survey also illustrates the ways of which households sort waste. Of the 49.2 percent who sorted the waste, 78 percent sorted it into two categories. As many as 18 percent in three categories and 5 percent percent said they were painstaking in sorting waste into four categories and 59 percent of the respondents were categorized it as wet and dry waste.
According to Government Regulation Number 101 of 2014 concerning Article 5 of Hazardous and Toxic Waste Management, the characteristics of B3 waste are explosive, flammable, negative, infectious, corrosive and toxic. Hazardous waste can also be found in household waste, such as bathroom cleaners, laundry detergents, used medicines, used batteries, and other.
Lack of public knowledge about the dangers of B3 waste has an impact on mixing this type of waste with domestic waste because there is no sorting of waste from the household level. Even the B3 waste mixed in the Bantar Gebang Final Disposal Site (TPA) reaches four percent of the total waste composition.
According to a research on the Generation of B3 Household Waste by Gadjah Mada University, the dumping of B3 waste in residential areas and landfills can cause various health problems for the community around the disposal area. In China, children who live near a waste recycling areas have high levels of Lead element in their blood.
The results of the 2017 Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) revealed that 66.8 percent of Indonesians still burn household waste without sorting it, so that B3 waste also burns along with other waste. The behavior of burning B3 waste along with other waste has the potential to not only pollute the environment but also be harmful to health. The toxic gas produced from burning B3 waste causes a buildup of fluid in the lungs and even triggers cancer.
In order to prevent the risks posed by B3 waste, the community must separate B3 waste from other waste through waste sorting. The Ministry of Environment said that ideally, waste sorting is divided into five categories, there are B3 waste, biodegradable waste, reusable waste, recyclable waste, and other waste. In Jakarta, the local government provides three types of waste with different colors to sort organic, inorganic and hazardous waste. Good waste sorting can make it easier for officers to sort recycled waste, so that waste can have economic value. In addition, sorting hazardous waste can minimize the risk of endangering the safety of officers who carry trash and the surrounding community. Sorting recycled waste also provides economic value, because it can be resold for processing into usable things. Types of recycled waste that exist in households contain glass bottles, plastic packaging, or paper
1.Notification to the public regarding the positive and negative impacts of waste management, bad consequences for public health that can be caused by waste.
2.Provide teaching the community about how to sort out the waste.
3.Giving prizes: Giving gifts or awards for environmental cleanliness achievements, it can be given in stages starting from the village, sub-district, sub-district, regency/municipality, provincial, and the highest award at the national level.
4.Provision of facilities and infrastructure that make it easy to dispose of waste properly, such as trash bins in every corner and landfills in the regions.
5.Provide an overview of other cities in developed countries that have implemented this waste sorting method properly. This is has to be done as a comparison material for the community and aims to raise awareness within the community to be able to sort waste from an early age.
6.Giving a punishment which is link to the regulations applied in the form of sanctions for violations and regulations.
