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New Year's festivities leave Jakarta littered with trash
Jakarta's streets glittered with colorful piles of garbage after revelers ushered in the New Year, pointing to a need for reflection and resolve on how to handle the tonnes of trash the city and its denizens generate, including awareness campaigns to promote individual waste management.
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Workers from the city’s sanitation agency, dubbed “Pasukan Oranye” (orange troops) for their distinctive uniforms, cleans discarded food, beverage bottles and other roadside litter around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on New Year’s Day 2025. (Courtesy of Jakarta Environmental Agency/-)
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fter the glittering celebrations to usher in 2025 had ended, Jakarta was left littered with over 100 tonnes of trash, the highest recorded since the pandemic.
Piles of trash, from plastic food packages to beverage containers, were scattered across the popular Kota Tua (Old Town) historic district in West Jakarta after more than 29,000 people had gathered to welcome the New Year.
Trash also littered the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle in downtown Jakarta, one of the busiest spots for kicking off the New Year, which saw an estimated crowd of 150,000 to 200,000 people enjoy the festivities.
Although the Jakarta administration had provided 200 garbage cans at crowded locations, many revelers still discarded their trash carelessly.
Asep Kuswanto, head of the Jakarta Environmental Agency, said the city’s sanitation crew had collected 132 tonnes of trash after New Year's celebrations this year: 2 tonnes more than in 2024, but still below the agency's estimate.
"Previously, we predicted the amount of trash from the New Year's Eve celebrations in Jakarta to reach 150 tonnes because of the [larger] number of celebration spots," Asep said in a statement on Thursday.
"The amount of waste collected was only 132 tonnes, a slight increase from last year, which saw 130 tonnes of waste, the highest amount from New Year's Eve celebrations since the pandemic,” he added.
