Public Discussion on Semarang Landfill Waste Management

This activity aims to educate the general public about the impact of the presence of incinerators in Semarang City. Currently, the Semarang City government is planning to build an incinerator to process waste at the Jatibarang landfill to be turned into electricity. This project is planned to be built in 2024 after experiencing failure in building a WtE methane gas landfill.
WtE is a National Strategic Project (PSN) where Semarang City is one of 12 cities throughout Indonesia that is required to build WtE. Because this is mandatory, like it or not, the Semarang city government has to build it. Currently it is known that the technology that will be used in WtE is incinerator technology where burning will occur in open air and will produce air pollution which is dangerous for public health. This is a common concern so that this bad plan should not be implemented because it will have a greater negative impact on the surrounding community.
The activity began with the screening of a short film by WALHI Central Java which raised the issue of waste management and WtE. Furthermore, in this activity there will be discussions from interested stakeholders, namely academics, the Environmental Service and parliament. From this discussion we will get progress on the development of the WtE project in Semarang, education on the dangerous impacts, and the role of the community in overseeing the project.
In the short term, this activity will be a forum for providing advice to the city government, explaining its negative impacts, and providing educational exposure to the community. Meanwhile, in the long term, to be able to attract public attention to this WtE project, it can hinder development and even project failure and propose the idea of implementing the zero waste concept to policy makers.