The increasing amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) with
increasing populations in developing countries has become a
potential threat to the environment, to society, and to economic
losses (Shekdar, 2009). Similar to other developing countries,
most of the MSW in Indonesia is dumped in landfill sites without
any treatment (Aye and Widjaya, 2006). This open dumping
system has caused serious negative environmental impacts including
groundwater and river water contamination by leachate from
dumping sites, a human health threat from vector-borne disease,
and methane gas generation that contributes to global warming
(Christia and Thomas, 2010). Consequently, the Indonesian Government
issued Waste Management Law No. 18 in 2008, which
stipulates that local governments must stop to use open dumping
sites that do not have a liner system in place within 5 years after
the enactment of this law. However, the extent of law enforcement
varies by region, especially in rural areas where waste management
is still inadequate (Meidiana and Gamse, 2010). Furthermore,
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 985 58 7335; fax: +81 985 58 7344.
E-mail address: sekito@civil.miyazaki-u.ac.jp (T. Sekito).
in areas with poor waste management services due to low capacity
and limited resources, MSW is dumped along the road side and
into rivers, which causes water contamination (Uiterkamp et al.,
2011). Financial constraints within the solid waste management
service sector also poses a serious problem. For example, Semarang
City, Indonesia, 83% of the annual budget (for solid waste management
services) is spent on waste collection costs including labor,
vehicle operation and maintenance in 2009 (data obtained from
Cleansing Department of Semarang City Profile 2009). Therefore,
local governments are generally unable to financially support the
improvement of MSW treatment methods to provide a more environmentally
friendly alternative.