Littering, the Effect and Policy

Littering is an action that is not acceptable. However, there are still many people in Jakarta that litter. Students that buy snacks in front of their school from street vendors would often times throw the plastic packaging to the sewers. Parents and children alike would throw their waste to the side of the road whilst taking an angkot (minibus).

This is a bad habit that needs to be straightened out. Encouraging people to change their habit would be difficult and a struggle, but I believe that it is still a possibility. There is always hope. Everything would first start from socialization, and then it would have to be practiced or applied.

This littering problem is troublesome because when trash is thrown carelessly to the side of the road, it will end up in the sewers. When it ends up in the sewers, they would clog the sewers up and create a flood during rainy season. When it is not the rainy season, the trash from the sewers will flow to the river and end up in the ocean. I believe that one of the many reason trash leaks to the ocean is because of this littering problem.

Jakarta actually has a policy for littering. To whoever that litters, they would be charged Rp500.000,-. The problem with this policy is its implementation. I have seen a lot of people litter, yet I have not seen or heard of people being punished by this law.

Throwing trash in the bin is a very simple action. Even though it is simple, it actually plays an important and big role in preserving the environment. Currently, I am planning to do socialization with little kids at RPTRA (a sort of assembly space/park) in hopes of raising awareness and changing people’s habit. So that at the very least, the numbers of trash leaking to the environment would hopefully decrease.