FABA is a category of coal combustion residuals (CCR) that contains heavy metals such as mercury, lead and arsenic that are highly toxic for the environment and public health. It is a byproduct of electricity utilities and factories and has traditionally had little reuse value because of stringent regulation, which the new provision aims to change.

Most fly ash is captured before it is emitted into the air, while bottom ash is non-combustible residue that does not make it out of the chimneys of modern coal-fired plants.

FABA’s delisting is stipulated in Government Regulation No. 22/2021 on environmental protection and management, which was issued on Feb. 2, one of many implementing regulations passed as part of the Job Creation Law.

According to Appendix IX of the regulation, this type of waste is now considered hazardous only if emitted from a stoker boiler.

But environmentalists say the deregulation of FABA is a step backward in the nation’s environmental protections.

“This is proof that the state and the coal industry view environmental protection instruments as hindrances that must be weakened or even removed,” Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) campaigner Khalisah Khalid said during a discussion last week.

Read also: Jokowi says no to Southeast Asia becoming 'landfill for hazardous and toxic waste'

Health risks

FABA has real and measurable impacts on residents living near coal-fired power plants, who develop health problems due to polluted air, Khalisah said, while the surrounding rivers and coastlines are at risk of contamination from waste that is not properly disposed of.

A 2016 Greenpeace study found that some 3 million people across the country were dangerously exposed to microscopic particles as a result of coal-fired power plants. Long-term exposure to such particulate matter, known as PM2.5, is known to cause acute respiratory infections and cardiovascular disease.

Andri Prasetyo, a researcher at clean energy campaign organization Trend Asia, said that the government’s move was a way to try to make coal economically viable again, at a time when renewable alternatives such as solar energy were becoming more affordable and competitive.

“This will hinder the transition to clean and renewable energy by increasing our reliance on coal,” Andri said on Friday.

Coal still accounts for the majority of Indonesia’s energy mix, and the country has plans to keep it that way until at least 2025.

Read also: Outlook on Indonesian coal exports amid weakening demand in pandemic

The government’s decision could also mean that corporations have more leeway in their disposal of FABA waste, as they are now subject to more lenient regulations than under the B3 waste categorization.

“Businesses will have more incentive not to take their FABA disposal management seriously. Their chances of facing liability lawsuits will also dwindle, as there is now more room for interpretation,” said Fajri Fadhillah of the Indonesian Center of Environmental Law (ICEL).

But the Environment and Forestry Ministry, which has strictly regulated hazardous materials in the past, has defended the new regulation, insisting that it is not a sweeping decision.

FABA from conventional coal-fueled stoker boilers, which are commonly used in factories, is still considered B3 waste, said the ministry’s waste management director general, Rosa Vivien Ratnawati. “So it is not true that all FABA from coal is delisted as hazardous and dangerous waste,” she said at a press briefing on Friday.

She also claimed the decision was made based on scientific evidence that pulverized coal burning utilized higher temperatures that caused fewer particulates and less waste to be emitted than in conventional stoker boiler burning.

The use and disposal of FABA would still have to be vetted by the government, Rosa said, and it remained a requirement in the environmental management and monitoring schemes (UKL-UPL) of businesses.

State-operated power plants and independent power producers produced around 2.91 million tons of FABA waste in 2020, according to official data. More than 75 percent of this amount, some 2.22 million tons, was produced from utilities on the island of Java.

Almost all power plants in Java use pulverized coal as their fuel source, while utilities elsewhere in the country still use either coal burning, stoker boilers or boilers with a circulating fluidized bed (CFB).

Read also: Explainer: New rules in revised Mining Law

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry defended the new regulation, saying power plants were still required to responsibly manage their FABA emissions even as they tried to increase the value of coal.

State-led toxicity studies from 2019 found that FABA emissions from 19 utilities using pulverized coal fell under the threshold required to classify them as hazardous and dangerous waste.

“Our decision to delist FABA as hazardous waste is not just because we are following other countries’ leads, it is based on our own tests as well,” said the ministry’s director general for electricity, Rida Mulyana, in a press briefing on Monday.

The ministry’s mining and coal director general, Ridwan Djamaluddin, said that the FABA decision was in line with national policy to seek added value for coal.

Waste monetization

Indonesia’s continued reliance on coal has attracted increased scrutiny, as the dirty energy source offers relatively meager returns that ultimately squeeze the government’s finances. Coal mining has also been responsible for the destruction of the country’s natural environment and has claimed many lives, including from polluted air and water.

However, the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo administration's focus on developing infrastructure across the country has given the coal mining industry a lifeline, especially with the prospects of FABA waste usage in construction.

Some academics say the delisting was long overdue and that the potential for FABA’s use should be studied.

Ferian Anggara, a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University’s School of Geological Engineering, estimated that nearly 7 million tons of FABA waste could be made useful every year, based on the domestic coal use figure of 138.42 million tons in 2019.

Read also: Rampant trash burning chokes humans, planet but still taken lightly

There is even more incentive given that up to 450 million tons of coal will continue to be in demand, in accordance with the government’s 2050 energy mix plan.

“We will need its comprehensive use. FABA’s status as non-hazardous waste will allow for more possible uses,” Ferian told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Mining engineer Rudy Sayoga Gautama of the Bandung Institute of Technology said FABA was safe for other uses because it was mostly inorganic material that was no longer flammable and that the possibilities of leakage were low, according to the government’s toxicity studies.

“If FABA were to be used as construction material, its potential for contamination should also be low,” he said.

Separately, state-owned coal miner PT Bukit Asam (PTBA), one of Indonesia’s largest miners by output, welcomed the decision as an opportunity to monetize FABA.

“This is good news for us because we can now use FABA for useful things,” said PTBA president director Arviyan Arifin at a virtual press conference last week.

Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) executive director Hendra Sinadia also welcomed the decision.

“We hope that FABA can be reused by the businesses that emit it and reduce their business costs,” he said, although he acknowledged that coal mining firms were not necessarily profiting or losing anything from the policy.

Miners, he said, did not always produce FABA waste, while the demand for coal was likely to remain for a while.

— Norman Harsono contributed to this story.

Popular

Indonesia may offer dual citizenship to attract overseas workers, minister says

Ministry unveils new funding initiative for climate-resilient health system

Sri Mulyani vows to improve customs services