The way so many areas of Jakarta are scattered with litter, we wouldn’t be surprised if many aren’t aware that there is a huge fine against littering, which goes from IDR500,000 (US$36.97) to IDR5 million (US$369.71), depending on the severity of the offense.
But it appears that the fine can be much larger than that if one litters a literal truckload of waste.
Recently, Jakarta’s Environment Agency found evidence that a tanker truck, which is able to carry a load measuring 8,000 liters, had dumped an untold amount of waste into the notoriously filthy Angke River.
After checking the vehicle’s registration, the agency tracked down the owner of the tanker truck in Cilegon, Banten, and fined him IDR50 million (US$3697). The driver, however, is on the run from the authorities.
“When we have the driver of the tanker truck, the investigation will resume,” said Mudarisin, head of Law Enforcement at the Environment Agency, as quoted by Tempo yesterday.
Littering or dumping waste into Jakarta’s waterways is especially irritating considering that Jakarta’s Sanitation Agency toiled in shit (literally) and other forms of yucky waste to do the seemingly impossible task of cleaning the capital’s rivers and canals during former Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s era.
Of course, all their hard work will go to waste if many of the capital’s citizens can’t drop their littering habit.
