Operator of Perumnas Klender traditional market in East Jakarta is optimistic about a newly launched composting project, despite lack of enthusiasm from vegetable vendors.

"The compost can be used for internal greening in our market complex and can be sold to hundreds of plant vendors along nearby Jl. I Gusti Ngurah Rai," said Sugionono of city-owned traditional market operator PD Pasar Jaya on Tuesday.

Plant vendor Rosmian, who has been buying compost from a distributor from Bogor, supports the project.

"I will buy the compost if the price is fair and if is good quality," she said.

Last week Pasar Jaya started processing organic waste in Perumnas Klender market into compost in a bid to reduce the volume of garbage transported to Bantar Gebang dump site.

A vegetable shredder, with a daily capacity of 1 ton, is used in the composting process. Machine operator Leo Sopang said he and three assistants operated the machine every afternoon, when all the garbage had been collected.

Pasar Jaya estimates a ton of organic waste can fill 10 bags of 15-kilogram bags of compost fertilizer.

"A ton of organic waste can be shredded in just two hours."

The waste is given three days to decompose, 10 days for the decaying process and three more days for drying.

Currently, the market is in the drying phase of its first round of the procedure.

Some 37 sanitation workers are assigned to collect and separate the organic and inorganic waste in the 3.7-hectare market.

A sanitation worker at the market, Dion, said "We are told to collect waste from vendors, who mostly sell cassava leaves, cabbage and various kinds of spinach."

Perumnas Klender market, which manages six other smaller traditional markets in the area (Klender SS, Pondok Bambu, Duren Sawit, Ujung Menteng, Sawah Barat and Cakung) is only processing the organic waste from the main market.

Around 25 of the 100 vendors in Perumnas Klender market are vegetable vendors.

However, some, if not many, of the vegetable vendors are unaware of the composting project.

Vegetable vendor Zahudin, who has been selling vegetables since 1996, said Tuesday he had not heard of the compost project. "What project? If there were one, I would have heard of it," he said.

Sugiono said his company provided rattan baskets for vegetable vendors so they could help collect and separate their waste.

However Sri, another vendor, said "I don't use the basket for my waste. I usually just throw my waste down here," she said, pointing to the narrow alley next to her kiosk.

"The sanitation workers will pick it up later in the day anyway."

A banana leaf vendor, Sutadi, said it would be hard to get the vendors to participate in the project.

He said all of the vendors had to pay a sanitation fee of between Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,000 a day, depending on the amount of waste they produce, and an entrance fee of between Rp 2,500 and Rp 4,000, depending on their stall's size.

"So, it is the sanitation workers' job to separate and collect our waste. We are already too busy with our businesses," he said.

Spokesperson of Pasar Jaya, M. Nur Hafidz, said the compost program aimed to reduce the amount of waste from traditional markets by 30 to 40 percent a day.

"We have instructed all market managers to implement the composting project," he said.

The composting project can be found in many of Pasar Jaya's markets, such as in Glodok, West Jakarta; Rawa Mangun, East Jakarta; and Rawa Badak, North Jakarta.

"Most of the markets, though, do not use machines for their composting," he said.

Nur said Pasar Jaya would assess the programs in the next three months.

"If they don't manage their waste properly, we will penalize them according to existing regulations, such as reprimands, warning letters and fines," he said.