Revolution in Refuse Disposal in Hot Countries ①

I had a chance to visit Indonesia for filming a special TV program. Based on this visit, I would like to make a report on eco activities and health issues.

Surabaya, the rural area of Indonesia had a problem of disposing refuse. This is a serious issue common to many other developing countries in tropical areas of the world. One Japanese man named Mr. Takakura faced up squarely to resolve this problem with his idea of ecological compose made from refuse. There is also another person, Dr. Akio Higa in Okinawa, Japan, who developed a world famous ecological technology called EM, Effective Microorganisms. He discovered that microorganisms have potentials to purify soils, water, and even kitchen garbage. Mr. Takakura’s idea is somewhat different from Dr. Higa, but there are several points in common.


Trash disposal site was closed in 2001.

Mr. Takakura’s original approach is that he did not bring Microorganism strains from Japan but managed to make them locally by mixing leaf mold, rice bran, soybean paste (miso), yogurt, fermented soybeans (natto), and mushrooms. In order to multiply bacteria in number, the strains are settled in a strainer with a newspaper inside for about a week. When the extra moisture is drawn out from the strains, it is ready to mix with the kitchen garbage. The kitchen garbage should be chopped into small pieces for it takes quicker to get fermented.

Takakura method was a huge success that he was able to transform kitchen garbage into compost just in one day in Indonesia thanks to its hot climate. Surabaya used to be a stinking insanitary town with full of refuse and flies all over the town. But as this method has widely spread among nearly17, 000 residents, it has become consequently a significant reformation of the town to clean with full of green and people’s smile.

The most striking feature found in tropical areas is that we can expect to get results quickly. Not only bad bacteria and virus go on a rampage instantly, but countermeasures implemented toward such bacteria can also bring about obvious results to anyone so quickly that can lead to eliminate dissident voice at once.

It was almost 20 years ago when Dr. Higa advocated EM Revolution in Japan. It spread throughout the nation, but at the same time, he received more criticism than applause in a professional field. His colleagues did not agree with some of his statements that EM consisted of 80 kinds of microorganisms. They insisted it was impossible to detect so many microorganisms through a microscope. Only lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, and photosynthetic bacteria were identified. Criticism arose mostly from those who failed to get expected results even though they followed the directions properly. Later on, Dr. Higa rephrased his initial statement that useful microorganisms were not 80 kinds, but the three mentioned above are the main microorganisms

After all, the EM microbial technology has been accepted and appreciated in tropical areas because it achieved a great success in organic farming using compose transformed from refuse. EM technology as well as Takakura method has brought about reliable results enough not only to make the local people impressed but also to prompt the nation’s top leaders to make actions.


Final waste haulage was reduced by 30% in 5 years.