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View all search resultsSouth Tangerang waste emergency highlights national problem
Piles of plastic bags and household waste have been reported across South Tangerang since the Environment Ministry ordered a temporary shutdown of the city’s final trash disposal site, Cipeucang, on Dec. 10, citing failure to properly process waste.
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Vehicles pass by piles of garbage in Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten, on Dec. 26, 2025. The city administration has declared a waste management emergency, in effect from Dec. 23, 2025, to Jan. 5, 2026, to accelerate cleanup efforts and mitigate the impact on residents’ health. (Antara/Putra M. Akbar)
M
any cities and regencies across Indonesia are grappling with a daily waste crisis, including South Tangerang in Banten, where tonnes of unmanaged garbage have clogged roads, drainage systems and rivers, prompting authorities to declare a state of “waste emergency”.
Piles of plastic bags and household waste have been reported across South Tangerang since the Environment Ministry ordered a temporary shutdown of the city’s final trash disposal site, Cipeucang, on Dec. 10, citing failure to properly process waste.
Cipeucang has been operating as an open dumping site, where trash is piled without adequate treatment, increasing the risk of fires, landslide of waste and public health hazards. Open dumping practices are actually prohibited under the 2008 Waste Management Law.
Public frustration over the waste crisis spilled into protest over the weekend, when students dumped dozens of trash bags outside South Tangerang City Hall, demanding concrete action from the administration to address the problem, as reported by Kompas.com.
The situation in South Tangerang mirrors broader problems nationwide. Earlier this year, the Environment Ministry intensified its crackdown on open dumping sites, and in October declared a “waste emergency” in 336 cities and regencies after environmental assessments found widespread noncompliance and a failure to shut down illegal disposal facilities.
“Waste should not become a long-term problem,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said in a statement on Friday. “Going forward, we will impose administrative sanctions [...] on local administrations whose waste management remains below the required standard.”
However, the closure of open dumping sites has exposed another challenge, which is a lack of alternative waste-processing capacity.
