BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) — On a lake in the West Java city of Bogor, children and teenagers paddle to floating garbage piles, collect the garbage, store it in their canoes, and then give it to friends who sort it on shore.
The group of about 20 young people started out as a one-man team ten years ago when Giri Marhara decided to clean the lake. He was only 16 years old at the time and already had a passion for cleaning up his environment, from his classroom to his neighborhood.
Young people like Marhara have been at the forefront of environmental and climate change movements in recent years: initiatives such as school strikes for climate action, United Nations climate talks, and worldwide protests and local clean-ups have often been youth-led. When it comes to waste collection, experts say it is a temporary solution and the bigger problem of creating too much waste needs to be addressed. But relatively small-scale efforts in Indonesia have resonated with young people and gained support and interest.
“For me, cleaning is catharsis, cleaning is invigorating,” said Marhara, who is often asked by children playing nearby if they can help clean. “I don’t want to miss the opportunity to educate kids that this is a positive thing, something you should probably make a habit of,” Marhara said, encouraging them to help.
Last year they founded a group called Situ Gede Cleanliness Warrior, named after the lake. They paddle or canoe across the lake, picking up trash and identifying what can be recycled. A local kayak group lends its boats to Marhara’s initiative, and members rotate between paddling on the lake or sorting trash on the shore into what can be recycled or reused and what needs to be thrown away.
Marhara and her friends have collected more than 2,700 kilograms (5,900 pounds) of garbage in and around Situ Gede lake through various initiatives over more than 10 years.
But the country’s garbage problem is far greater than what the group can remove from its waterways.
Indonesia produced more than 35 million tons of waste last year, according to the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry. It is estimated that 35 percent of the country’s waste is unmanaged. Litter is a common sight along roadsides, in waterways, and in natural environments.
Waste is also responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Resources Institute. Most of this comes from food waste, which if left to decompose in landfills can emit methane, a planet-warming gas that is about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term.
The garbage problem has also raised health concerns: Plastic waste, for example, breaks down into small pieces called microplastics that can enter the human body. Some research suggests this may affect the endocrine, nervous and immune systems and increase the risk of cancer.
“The consequences are very serious and need to be addressed,” said Abdul Ghofar, urban and pollution expert at the Indonesian Environment Forum. “Apart from health losses, there are also environmental losses, and of course there are economic losses” due to the cost of restoring environments.
Landfill or garbage disposal alternatives exist for some waste products: Food waste can be composted, and some other types of waste, such as certain types of plastic, can be reused or recycled. But environmentalists also say the world needs to produce less waste, as most of it ends up in landfills or in the world’s oceans.
“We should be encouraged to find out where the source of pollution is coming from and how to stop it,” Ghofar said. “For environmentalists, it’s turning off or turning off the tap. Unless the source of pollution is shut down, this pollution will never end.”
But as long as the waste taps remain open, youth-led clean-ups can still make an impact, even if only for small areas or communities. This is something Trisna Reggganis witnessed in her neighborhood in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta.
The Ciliwung Depok Community group works with neighborhoods around greater Jakarta on conservation work such as cleaning rivers and riverbanks.
Rengganis, who volunteers with the group, said there is a stigma towards those who say the Ciliwung River has a garbage problem, even though many residents throw garbage into the water and there is no good waste management system in the area.
However, Reggganis said that since the clean-up work, children in nearby areas have started playing and visiting the riverside again, which is a rare situation in a big city. He said seeing the children in Ciliwung’s banks reminded him of his childhood.
“They feel comfortable and safe” on the river, Rengganis said. “I hope they can do the same on other sides of Ciliwung (upstream or downstream).”
Rengganis hopes the momentum to clean up the river and solve the area’s trash problem continues so future generations can enjoy the area.
Marhara believes that such permanent change will require a culture shift that will continue even as waste production is reduced.
Saying that the country has a “garbage-throwing culture”, he said, “I am trying to resist behaviors that cause garbage in the environment.”
“I think the only way to counter this culture is to develop a counterculture,” he said.
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