Rachmat marked the occasion by donating two simple machines to process organic waste for Ciroyom market, where he was joined by Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada and the provincial administration’s secretary Leks Laksmana.

He said all cities should work to reduce waste and could use the help of simple technology. The Rp 250 million (US$27,173) machines can process five cubic meters of organic waste each per hour.

He blamed the country’s increasing trash production on the rapid expansion of the population. In 1970s, he said, there were only about 600,000 people living in Bandung, whereas now the city has around 2.4 million residents. Jakarta’s population has increased from one million to around eight million people.

Rachmat said there was a need for a trash management system that took into account the number of people the city would see in the future. Currently waste management is supervised by a national ad hoc team under the central government. It comprises four offices — the National Development Planning Agency, the Public Works Ministry, the State Ministry for the Environment and the State Ministry for Research and Technology.

The Saturday launch is the first attempt by the team to reduce trash production at its source. The pilot program will run in Ciroyom market before being introduced across the country.

In Bandung, the environment ministry has spent Rp 700 million on the campaign, which will cover three projects. Aside from the Ciroyom market machines, there is also a communal waste management program and a public campaign.

“Bandung was chosen for the pilot project due to its extensive problems with garbage. If the program works, Bandung will be the country’s first city to be freed from the trash problem,” Rachmat said.

He said the ministry was also hoping that a draft law on garbage management, which has been proposed to the House of Representatives, will be enacted to help other cities manage their waste properly.

“In the draft law, there’s an arrangement of rights and responsibilities between the central and local governments in managing trash. Currently, it’s not clear, especially if there’s a problem,” he said.

Huge piles of trash lined Bandung’s streets earlier this year after a garbage slide at its main dump site in Leuwigajah killed more than 100 people. People living near the dump then refused to take the city’s garbage any more.