- green-spots
- waste
- Indonesia
- Citarum River cleanup, Indonesia
Problems
Waste in Citarum River
The Citarum River has been a support life for West Java people for a long time. This river has formed a civilization along its bank. For example, the Tarumanegara Kingdom, the Galuh Kingdom, the Cirebon Sultanate, and the Banten Sultanate. The Citarum River is crosswise for 297 km from the upstream in Mount Wayang to the downstream in the Java Sea. Many people depend on this river. Sadly, the Citarum River is also known as the “world’s most polluted river.” Plastic, trash, and industrial waste pollute this historic river. In some places, the surface of the river is invisible beneath a layer of floating garbage and invasive plants. Local waste pickers generate income by collecting valuable waste, but this informal economy is unable to make up for the limited waste management infrastructure in the region. Cleaning the Citarum River has become a priority for the local and national governments.
Solutions
Plastic capture system in the Citarum River
Author: Clean Current Coalition
Generation Foundation, RiverRecycle, and Waste4Change operate a plastic capture system in the Citarum River near Bandung, the capital of West Java, a location infamous for waste that accumulates before the Saguling Dam Intake in Cihampelas Village, West Bandung Regency. The system, created by RiverRecycle, consists of a floating boom with active concentration modules to guide the plastic and other waste to one side of the river. An automatic wheel and conveyor lift the waste out of the river, where it is then transported to a nearby sorting station and can manage up to 1 ton of river waste per day. Once the removed waste is sorted and weighed, the hard plastics are delivered to a local recycling facility. The waste in the river is often blended with large amounts of organic material due to overwhelming seasonal blooms of invasive water hyacinth plants. The project is creating value from these water hyacinths by providing them to local artists, who then dry the plants and use them to create handicrafts such as woven baskets. The project started in 2021 by installing Bandung of RiverRecycle's proprietary river cleaning technology to collect floating debris and plastic waste. More than 5,000 people in the local community have benefitted from educational programs organized by Generation Foundation about the importance of reducing and properly disposing of household waste to protect their health and the environment. Waste4Change manages the activities related to the collection and separation of waste. The project aims to stop plastic pollution by collecting litter from rivers and introducing recycling for low-value plastics. Local handicraft artisans use the waste's organic fraction, composed chiefly of water hyacinths, to create baskets and other woven objects. The Citarum Repair project adheres to the principles of environmental justice and acknowledges that many problems are caused by plastic and industrial pollution. In the Citarum River, damage to water quality makes it difficult for the local community to access clean water from the river, and plastic pollution causes significant flooding, which results in extreme hardships for people living downstream. This project aims to reduce these environmental injustices by reducing plastic pollution in the river and educating the public about responsible household waste management. A clean Citarum River will dramatically improve the standard of living of the people in its vicinity. Making the Citarum River water drinkable is an inclusive effort. By encouraging more businesses along the Citarum River to adopt responsible business practices.
Source: https://cleancurrentscoalition.org/coalition-projects/citarum-river-indonesia/
Gallery
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Timelines
The Inauguration of the “Citarum Repair” – “Pembersihan Sungai Citarum Dari Sampah Terapung, Guna Mencegah Polusi Plastik Ke Lautan” was held to continue the Citarum River restoration action. The inauguration aimed to welcome the achievement of the program, which has been running for 3 years. In addition, the inauguration is also a moment to open up new, wider collaboration opportunities.
2018
The Indonesian government established the Citarum Harum – a seven-year river revitalisation program with the goal of making the Citarum’s water drinkable by 2025. It's no small challenge, but one that has some significant backing.
Citarum— which provides drinking water to major cities including Bandung, Jakarta and Tangerang—was considered one of the 10 most polluted rivers in the world. The polluted water affected surrounding communities, impacting their right to clean water, a clean environment, their right to health, and their right to food.
2020
A collaboration between Generation Foundation, Waste4Change, and River Recycle was officially started to combat waste in the Citarum River. The program would last 3 years and will hopefully catalyze more initiatives to clean and keep the river clean.
2023
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the support of the European Union (EU) and in collaboration with the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs, conducted training for 40 companies operating along the Citarum River, including private and state-owned enterprises, to adopt responsible business practices through the application of United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
2024
The "Citarum Harum" program, involving the military and local government, planted trees and implemented waste management, with organizations like River Cleanup removing significant waste. Weeds growing in the river area were cleared to ensure a more even and smooth water flow. Weeds can potentially become a source of garbage accumulation. "The river's water quality has now improved. We must not allow it to become polluted again by garbage and waste due to delayed attention to river maintenance," Sergeant Hengky, Commander of Sub-District 7, said. The Citarum Harum Task Force continues to engage with the community to actively preserve the environment, manage their waste properly, and prevent the river from becoming a dumping ground. "Hopefully, in the future, the river will no longer be clogged, and we hope to clean it daily to restore the ecosystem within it," Hengky concluded. Clean water led to fish thriving and aquatic plants flourishing, with some areas seeing people swim for the first time in decades. Citarum River cleanup has made significant improvements in water quality, moving towards the Class II by 2025 goals.
2026
January 24
Implementation of the Citarum Harum program will continue in 2026, focusing on 10 river restoration actions. The community will be directly involved in restoring the Citarum River this year. This was highlighted in the 2026 Citarum Harum Task Force coordination meeting held on January 24, 2026. The 10 actions to be implemented by the Citarum Harum Task Force in 2026 include critical land management, domestic waste, garbage, industrial waste, and livestock waste. In addition, they will address floating net cage management, natural resource and tourism management, spatial control and utilization, community education and empowerment, and data management, information, and public relations. The Citarum Harum Task Force's activities will prioritize the upstream areas of the Citarum River, including the management of industrial waste, garbage, animal waste, and critical land. The Citarum Harum Task Force will not work alone in the 2026 Citarum River restoration. Monitoring of the Citarum River's condition will involve the community.
