Residents’ awareness not to throw trash into Ciliwung River is apparently still low. Evidently, post-floodwater from Bogor and Depok on Thursday (11/20), tens of tons of trash got stuck under Rawa Jati Bridge, Kalibata, South Jakarta.

People are still throwing trash to the river. If flood happened, it becomes like this, 80 tons of trash picked up

Most of the trashes were plastics, card boxes, corks, logs, and bamboo. After being cleaned up by Jakarta Cleanliness Department, a total of 80 tons of trash managed to be picked up.

“People are still throwing trash to the river. If flood happened, it becomes like this, 80 tons of trash picked up,” stated Head of Water Management Technical Implementation Unit for Jakarta Cleanliness Department, Mumung Mulyana.

Because of the trash piles stuck under the bridge that connects Cililitan, East Jakarta, with Kalibata, South Jakarta, Ciliwung River water flow became clogged. If those trashes not cleaned immediately, the river water would overflow onto residents’ settlements.

To clean up the trashes, two excavators, eight trucks, and 80 janitors were deployed to the location. Afterwards, the trashes were transported to Bantar Gebang Integrated Landfill, Bekasi City.

According to Mulyana, his party faced difficulties when cleaning up the trashes because the Kalibata Lama Bridge has not been demolished. Thus, a lot of trashes were stuck in the bridge’s iron poles.

“We hope that Kalibata Lama Bridge demolition could be accelerated, because many trashes got stuck in the poles. Thus, the river water overflows,” he said.