The Jakarta Globe, Aug 19, 2014
Jakarta. Police on Tuesday raided an illegal toxic waste warehouse in Cilincing, North Jakarta, that had been reselling used oil from ships in Jakarta Bay.
“The environment unit of the Jakarta Police’s criminal investigation division has successfully uncovered a toxic and hazardous waste storage site that was selling to factories in Jakarta and Sukabumi [West Java],” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said.
Rikwanto said the warehouse was owned by five companies, identified only as H.B., P.M., G.B., B.S. and J.Y. It was operating without the permit needed to run a waste management business, he added.
“The hazardous and toxic waste came from ships in Jakarta Bay, which regularly change their oil. The used oil was collected and resold to factories as fuel [for machines],” the police spokesman said.
The operation’s turnover was estimated to be around Rp 300 million ($25,500) per month.
“Detectives have questioned all owners and are still investigating,” Rikwanto said. “The initials of the owners are M.B., A.B., P., A.S. and S.”
Police have reportedly confiscated nine oil containers with a capacity of 16,000 liters, 11 modified containers, a pumping machine, 26 drums and 190,000 liters of used oil.
“The evidence has been tested in a laboratory and the results show that this is hazardous waste. All of it has been confiscated to prevent it from being resold,” Rikwanto said.
The chief of the North Jakarta Environment Agency, Mudarisin, warned that used oil poses a serious danger to any living organism.
“It is flammable and can easily explode,” Mudarisin said, adding that the companies should have applied for a government permit if they wanted to store or transport waste oil.
“It should be done under our supervision,” he said, adding that due to a lack manpower, such activities often go unnoticed.
Owners of the company may face three years in jail and fines of up to Rp 3 billion for violating the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law.
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wo 20 aug 2014 - 7:56