Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia recentlyinaugurated its first facility to produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in Cilacap,Central Java.
The facility was built at a cost of 90billion IDR (6.29 million USD) by Indonesia’s Public Works and Housing Ministry(PUPR), the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Danish InternationalDevelopment Agency, Central Java and Cilacap administrations and buildingmaterials manufacturer PT Solusi Bangun Indonesia.
The plant is able to produce 50 tonnes ofRDF from 120 tonnes of waste every day and the fuel will be used as an alternativeto 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 forimproving Indonesia’s waste management which had been a complicated problem.
He affirmed that the country needs abreakthrough in waste management to reduce cities or regencies’ dependence onfinal disposal sites, saying that has long been an issue both on theenvironment and social fronts.
Currently, the Indonesian government ismapping the potential and making technical rules to encourage the potential useof RDF as an alternative to waste management in various regions in the country.
The PUPR will team up with the ministry ofenergy and mineral resources and the PT Indonesia Power to carry out theprogramme.
The Indonesian government is targeting tooperate 12 waste-based power plants which are expected to generate 234megawatts of power by 2022.
The world’s fourth most populous country ofmore than 260 million people produces large amounts of waste and is the secondlargest contributor of plastic pollutants in Asia Pacific, according to a 2015study./.