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View all search resultsRiau repurposes illicit cigarettes into compost fertilizer
Head of the Riau Prosecutor’s Office, Sutikno, said the initiative emerged from efforts to find a productive method of disposing of the large volume of seized cigarettes.
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Cigarette bust: Boxes of illicit cigarettes are stacked on March 16, 2026, in Batam, Riau Islands. The illicit cigarettes were seized by Batam Customs officers from a speedboat that ran aground on Panjang Island. (Antara/Batam Customs/Handout)
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uthorities in Riau have converted 22.2 million illicit cigarettes, confiscated in smuggling attempts from Malaysia, into compost fertilizer for farmers, the first initiative of its kind in the province.
Riau Prosecutor’s Office chief Sutikno said the initiative emerged from efforts to find a productive method of disposing of the large volume of seized cigarettes.
“At first, I was thinking about how to destroy such a large quantity of cigarettes in a way that could still create economic value,” he said.
He said he later learned that Pekanbaru city authorities had been operating a waste composting program aimed at supporting local farmers.
“We decided to process the seized illegal cigarettes into compost. Cigarette waste that previously had no value can now be turned into fertilizer and a useful product. What was originally waste has now been given economic value,” he said.
Pekanbaru Mayor Agung Nugroho praised the initiative and expressed hope that cooperation between the Pekanbaru administration and the Riau Prosecutor’s Office in waste management efforts would continue.
“If previously confiscated goods were torched or flattened, today they can be repurposed into compost,” he said.
