Titien S. Rini, A. Rachmansyah, A.W. Muhaimin, Suyadi
Waste picker is informal worker who have a role in reducing solid waste in the landfill. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of waste pickers and their role in the solid waste reduction in the Randegan Landfill, Mojokerto City, Indonesia. The research method was a survey using a questionnaire to obtain information from the respondents and in-depth interviews to a group of 33 waste pickers. The data obtained in this study were analysed descriptively. The results showed that 69.68% waste picker were male aging 46-50 years old. Thirty six precent of the respondents has been working as waste pickers for more than 6 years and 67% of them enjoy their works. All of respondents stated that their work time was irregularly during the morning, afternoon or evening daily with non definite duration work time per day. Their average education was primary school graduates. The majority of respondents' income is less than IDR 1,000,000, -/month. All respondents stated that they can get economic advantage form new waste entering to landfill. The total recoverable waste consist of 369 kg/day plastic; 620 kg/day paper, 209 kg/day bottle/glass waste; 67 kg/day iron waste. From the total of 1265 kg/day recovered waste, they sell to an agent with total income IDR 755,502/day or IDR 22,665,060/month for all 33 pickers. The average income was IDR 686.820,-/month/picker. All pickers have participated for social-, economic- and health training conducted by local government. However, only 21.21% of them used work safety and health equipment's. In conclusion the participation of waste pickers in solid waste management on the landfill play important role in solid waste reduction by 3.3% of the average daily solid waste entering to the landfill and percentage of the considered to be sold able solid waste types compared with similar solid waste that goes to landfill is 12.22%. © IDOSI Publications, 2013.
Department Civil Engineering, University of Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; University of Brawijaya Malang, East Java, Indonesia
