Economic Potential of Paper Waste Recycling Activities on the Informal Sector in Grobogan District A Case Study: Purwodadi Sub-District
B P Samadikun1, D A B Sinttia1, A Rezagama1, S Sumiyati1, H S Huboyo1, B S Ramadan1, M Hadiwidodo1, and F Nabila1

1 Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia 50275, Indonesia

Abstract

Waste is a serious issues, not only in Indonesia but also in other countries. The governments have conducted various attempts to reduce the waste, for example by recycling waste. One of the regions in Indonesia that done recycling is Purwodadi Sub-District, where the activity of waste utilization is mostly conducted in the informal sector. This research aims to estimate the economic potential and the expense the existing system of paper waste management and to analyze the benefits of paper waste management activity by the informal sector in Purwodadi Sub-District economically and environmentally. The method used is interviews and questionnaire surveys toward 31 recyclers consisting of scavengers, waste banks, garbage collectors I and II, and the dealers. Based on the research result, the economic potential in the enterprise of paper waste recycling by each recycler was different. By applying the implementation of the paper waste 3R program in the informal sector, the benefits are divided into two, economic and environmental benefits. The economic benefits are profits from selling paper waste taken from recyclers, while the environmental benefits as the paper waste management by the informal sector is the waste reduction with the percentage waste reduction of 15.9% in Purwodadi Sub-District.

Keywords: Paper waste,Economic potential,Benefit analysis,Recycling

Topic: Environmental Science, Technology, and Education