Waste Management Into Compost
Medan City's waste management system which is open dumping leaves the problem of storage capacity and environmental pollution. Processing the waste at the landfill is the solution, on the other hand, will provide economic value for the community as well as the city government.
Using the standards of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry that the waste generation per capita is 0.7 kg/person, there will be 2,002 tons/day of waste estimated in 2023. This is the result of multiplying the population of Medan City (2,859,490 people during the day), or 120% of the projected population of Medan City in 2023 (which is 2,382,908 people), with the standard of waste generation per capita.
This large amount of waste, intrinsically, has a high economic value by using appropriate technology through the collaboration of multi-sectors. One of the potential waste processing is RDF or Refuse Derived Fuel. It is an alternative fuel originating from waste processing with a concentration of combustible material composition. RDF can be used in supporting fuel in the cement industry. Another form of RDF is Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) which has a higher quality and heating value than RDF.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, there are several criteria for determining whether an area has the potential to apply RDF technology. Some of the criteria are waste production that meets ± 400 tons/day and the readiness of off-takers. The off-takers are steam power plants (PLTU), cement factories, or other industries that do cofiring or use RDF fuel massively.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (2021) has mapped potential locations to implement RDF technology based on off-taker readiness. The city of Medan is included because of the presence of a cement factory and steam power plant in Pangkalan Susu in Kab. Langkat, 94 km away from the Medan landfill. The two industries have an RDF requirement of 67 tons/day. On the other side, the Cement Mortar Factory is planned to be developed in the KIM III area with a capacity of 180,000 tons per year and is estimated to require 50 tons of RDF per day. This condition is certainly an investment opportunity in the waste treatment sector of Medan City.