TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia set to miss 2025 waste management target by wide margin
Indonesia generated 69.9 million tonnes of waste in 2023, according to Environment Ministry data. Yet it was estimated 57 percent of waste were managed informally through burning or burial due to inadequate facilities.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Children collect trash on July 9, 2020, at Muaro Lasak Beach, Padang, West Sumatra. Then Environment and Forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that waste accumulation in 2020 was estimated to reach 67.8 million tonnes. (Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
I
ndonesia is poised to fall far short of its ambitious target of being able to manage 100 percent of its waste by the end of 2025, with experts citing a lack of political will and insufficient fiscal capacity as key obstacles.
The government plans to manage the country’s waste by ensuring 70 percent of waste is handled properly, including by sorting, collecting and processing it into raw materials or energy sources, as outlined in Presidential Regulation No. 97/2017. The remaining 30 percent is set to be reduced through a recycling scheme.
However, the National Waste Management Information System (SIPSN) operated by the Environment Ministry shows only 60.2 percent was managed in 2023 with the rest left unmanaged.
Then a recent policy recalibration slashed the realization to 39 percent in December last year, as the ministry no longer accounts unmanaged landfills in waste handling statistics to reduce reliance on open dumping, a practice deemed environmentally harmful.
Novrizal Tahar, the ministry’s director general of waste, hazardous and toxic materials management, acknowledged the setback, attributing the gap to existing structural and behavioral issues — including low public participation.
“Yes, the decree’s target indeed remains far out of reach. The new calculation also reflects the reality of the state of our waste management,” Novrizal told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 2.
To implement stricter measures on waste management, the minister ordered the closure of several non-compliant landfills and issued warnings to over 300 regional leaders to improve their practices or face administrative sanctions, Novrizal said.
