Indonesian Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut B. Pandjaitan inaugurates the Refuse-derived Fuel facility in Cilacap, Central Java (Photo: Solusi Bangun Indonesia) Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia recently inaugurated its first facility to produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in Cilacap, Central Java.
The facility was built at a cost of 90 billion IDR (6.29 million USD) by Indonesia’s Public Works and Housing Ministry (PUPR), the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Danish International Development Agency, Central Java and Cilacap administrations and building materials manufacturer PT Solusi Bangun Indonesia.
The plant is able to produce 50 tonnes of RDF from 120 tonnes of waste every day and the fuel will be used as an alternative to coal to power cement plants.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Indonesian Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut B. Pandjaitan underlined that the RDF facility is also a pilot project for improving Indonesia’s waste management which had been a complicated problem.
He affirmed that the country needs a breakthrough in waste management to reduce cities or regencies’ dependence on final disposal sites, saying that has long been an issue both on the environment and social fronts.
Currently, the Indonesian government is mapping the potential and making technical rules to encourage the potential use of RDF as an alternative to waste management in various regions in the country.
The PUPR will team up with the ministry of energy and mineral resources and the PT Indonesia Power to carry out the programme.
The Indonesian government is targeting to operate 12 waste-based power plants which are expected to generate 234 megawatts of power by 2022.
The world’s fourth most populous country of more than 260 million people produces large amounts of waste and is the second largest contributor of plastic pollutants in Asia Pacific, according to a 2015 study./.
