A Day in TEMESI VILLAGE: the Landfill (part 1)

Hey Greensters!!

It's Patricia here ... and we're back online after weeks of exams and projects at our school. :)

So, to celebrate Earth day, The Green Team Indonesia went to Temesi village. It is about 30 kilometers from Denpasar city in Bali and located in Gianyar area. It took us around one hour to drive there. Thanks to everybody who joined us that day: miss Julie, sir Agung (our TGTI mentor), Shirley, Sharon, Mika, Chloe, Hillary, auntie Lieza, Aura, Vina and auntie Dindha. And of course, my mom and Vanessa my sister, the co-founder of TGTI. 

Why did we go there? Because Temesi is actually a landfill. But, it is not a usual landfill. Let me tell you the story. This place was created in 2004 by Temesi village, Gianyar Regency and Ubud Rotary Club.

Mr. Kadek Satra explained environmental issues to us

They call it as a 'recycling plant' and it is the largest one in the South East Asia! They started processing the trash 30 - 45 tons per day. There are 30 staffs and 80 freelance workers there. The organizer of this whole thing is 'Yayasan Pemilahan Sampah Temesi' (Temesi Waste Separation Foundation). This foundation is a place to make organic composting. 

We met Mr. Kadek Satra (the Production Manager) and Miss Ari (Laboratory staff) who were very informative and so friendly in welcoming us. When we went there, we first went to a hall where we can learn about environmental issues such as: 

• Solar water disinfection
• How to turn plastic into bricks
• Solar drying system 
• Water treatment
• Simple water filtration
• Different kind of trashes: paper, plastic, metal, glasses and B3 garbage (B3 means 'Bahan Berbahaya dan Beracun' or 'hazardous and toxic materials'
• Simple biogas generator sets
• Biodiesel from jatropha oil

.... and many more!

The process of composting

Then we went to the landfill, there were flies everywhere and the water was pitch black. There, we learned about composting. They also taught us the process of composting the organic materials. 

The process of composting: 

1. Sorting out all the trash. Separating the organic with the un-organic
2. Pile up the trash to make a trash hill of around 3-6 meters tall
3. Give a deadline for every pile
4. Check the temperature everyday 
5. Check the moisture everyday 
6. Flip it over and check the temperature, if the temperature is less than or more than 60 degrees Celcius. The 'flip over process' depends on the checking results. 
7. The organic compost will be ready within 3 to 4 months. 

   

   A huge pile of organic compost ready to sell

Once the organic composts are ready, they pack them all in sacks. One sack is 20 kilograms of organic compost. Temesi sells it for Rp. 20.000,- each (around US $2 only!). However, the main problem they are facing is to market the compost they produce. In the mean time, only hotels in Bali area buy the organic composts for their hotel gardens. But, with such huggggeeee piles of organic compost, the government must really think about how to market it. The government must help this Temesi village in selling the compost and organize the place! It's a great place already, but government must pay more attention to help the environment!

If you or your friends can help to market or buy the organic composts produced by Temesi village, you can contact them at:

TEMESI COMPOST

(0361) 743-8083

Stay tune because we have more stories about this great place!

Best regards, 

Patricia
(grade 8 student)