Local communities in West Java are collaborating with Monash University and international partners to co-design and test new approaches for preventing waste from polluting the Citarum River.

The Citarum Action Research Program (CARP) is a joint global environmental initiative that has helped communities living along the Citarum River capture and create value from waste that would otherwise be openly dumped on vacant land or into the river.

The Citarum River is one of the most polluted in the world due to over 70 per cent of villages in the river basin lacking centralised waste and sanitation services. Yet millions rely on it for access to water and energy, and to sustain livelihoods through agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and ecotourism.

The international collaboration to revitalise the Citarum River involves Monash University, the West Java government, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Padjadjaran, Yaksa Pelestari Bumi Berkelanjutan (YPBB), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag).

This week, the project partners attended a two-day event in Bandung, West Java, to celebrate key milestones of CARP, including the development of a TPS-3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) waste facility in Desa Padamukti, and a one-year pilot program that improved waste management in the community.

The completion of these projects marks the first stage of implementing CARP’s 20-year Ecological Landscape Masterplan for a section of the Citarik River, which flows into the main Citarum River.

The waste facility in Desa Padamukti was designed by the CARP team and the Informal Cities Lab in Monash’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), in response to other TPS-3R waste facilities in the region struggling due to poor governance and unsustainable economic models.

The CARP team, led by Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering, trialled enhancements to the facility to better understand the challenges and opportunities of village-scale waste management, and to transition communities from open dumping and incineration of waste to a system where waste is collected, separated, and processed sustainably.

“Cleaning the river is a generational challenge, but we hope the lessons learned from this one-year pilot will be implemented in other TPS-3Rs and villages, ultimately leading to a cleaner Citarum River,” Professor Ramírez-Lovering said.

CARP directly addresses one of the world’s most pressing environmental and climate related challenges: improving the environmental condition of rivers and the socio-economic conditions of the vulnerable communities that rely on them.”

Dr Melissa Skidmore, from CSIRO Manufacturing, said CSIRO’s waste leakage audits found that flexible plastics is one of the main types of waste leaking into the river and open spaces in the area. Their research therefore focussed on ways the TPS-3R can effectively process flexible plastic. “This has included improving shredding capability, and evaluating the processing of flexible plastic by pressing into sheets and extruding into beams,” Dr Skidmore said.

A Behaviour Change Awareness campaign, led by Eawag in collaboration with YPBB and the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, also helped the community in Desa Padamukti learn about waste segregation and disposal. The campaign led to better recycling outcomes by helping locals separate waste at the source before it’s transported to the TPS-3R.

Laura Velásquez, Project Officer at Eawag, said the team used the Risks, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities and Self-regulation (RANAS) survey to understand the community’s perceptions towards waste management. “We found that the community values both positive attitudes towards waste management and social norms, such as waste practices of their relatives and neighbours. We tailored the behaviour change campaign to influence these expectations and beliefs,” she said.

Professor Rob Raven, Deputy Director (Research) from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), said:

Through our international partnerships, we have implemented a living lab approach to co-design and experiment with integrated solutions for a localised circular economy, climate resilience, community participation, and master plan development.”

Dr Dwinanti Marthanty, Head of Technical Team at Universitas Indonesia, said: “This year our project has delivered a new TPS-3R construction funded by the West Java Provincial Government, collaborated with the local community on waste separation and trialled new processing equipment and approaches. We aim to continue evaluating the new system so that we can support the community and government with data to support decision making and future investment in the pipeline of TPS-3R planned.”

Program Manager of CARP Dr Jane Holden said: “The challenge we face is that abating river contamination is a multi-dimensional problem that requires different sectors and disciplines to work together including civil society, government, academia and industry.

“CARP is a great example of Monash building relationships, convening and leading transdisciplinary collaborations to address global challenges through mission-led research.”

CARP is also presenting opportunities for education and training. Earlier this year, students from Monash’s Bachelor of Architectural Design and Master of Architecture courses participated in a two-week study tour of the Citarum River, engaging in data mapping exercises to better understand the environmental challenges in the region.

Master of Architecture student Chantelle Lappin said: “I learned so much from the community, especially about vernacular architecture and how the locals recycle tyres, bamboo and other construction materials to develop sustainable solutions.”

CARP received funding in 2024 from the Australia-Indonesia Knowledge Partnership Platform (KONESKI) and the Indo-Pacific Plastics Innovation Network (IPPIN) to address the multi-dimensional challenge of waste leakage into the Citarum River.

The CARP team is seeking further funding and collaboration opportunities to continue monitoring and evaluating the wastewater pilot in Padamukti, with the goal of implementing a 20-year revitalisation strategy for the Citarum River.