Towards a low carbon solid waste management in West Papua

Abstract

Solid waste is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With an increasing population and Gross Domestic Regional Product (GDRP) of West Papua at 2.65% and 5.2% per annum, solid waste production will also be increased and GHG emissions. However, a specific amount of GHG emission in West Papua was yet to be determined due to the unavailability of solid waste generation across all districts within West Papua. This paper aims to assess solid waste generation by using a dynamic model system that involved total population and GDRP across West Papua as the main variables to measure the data above. This paper shows that 2 (two) scenarios to simulate the business as usual (BAU) process of existing waste management and proposed scenarios to reduce GHG emissions at a convenient level. Based on the BAU model, West Papua will produce 3.7 million tons of waste and 1.1 million tons CO2e in 2030. The proposed scenario suggests that West Papua should manage their waste of up to 118.297 tons/year to meet the NDC 29% emission reduction target. These models could be replicated to solve the same issues in different areas.