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View all search resultsJakarta mandates household sorting to tackle chronic waste crisis
After seven people were killed in a devastating landslide at the Bantargebang landfill in March, the Jakarta governor has issued an instruction mandating waste sorting at home before disposal, though supporting facilities including public education remain a challenge.
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A search and rescue team uses heavy machinery on March 9, 2026, the day after a landslide at the Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, the country’s biggest, buried garbage trucks, food stalls and 13 people, killing seven. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
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akarta now requires households to sort their trash for composting and recycling and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills in an effort to ease pressure on the overloaded Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, as it heads toward a waste tipping point driven by more than 9,000 tonnes of garbage per day.
Through Gubernatorial Instruction (Ingub) No. 5/2026 on waste sorting and processing at source, which went into force on April 30, Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung has ordered residents to sort their waste at home into four categories.
These are: organic waste for composting, such as food scraps; inorganic waste for recycling, such as plastics and cardboard; B3 waste, referring to hazardous and toxic materials; and general or residual waste, referring to materials that cannot be recycled or composted, such as disposable diapers, Styrofoam and tissues.
Official data show that food waste makes up the majority of the city’s garbage composition at almost 50 percent. Plastics contribute around 23 percent, followed by paper and cardboard at 17 percent and glass, metals, textiles and other materials comprising the rest.
“Hazardous waste must be taken to designated facilities such as B3 collection sites because of its dangerous nature. Residual waste, meanwhile, will be processed through refuse-derived fuel [RDF] plants and waste-to-energy [WtE] facilities so that not all of it ends up in landfills,” Pramono said on Monday.
Read also: Deadly Bantar Gebang collapse exposes Jakarta’s decades-long waste mismanagement
Oversight, discipline
