Gembong Hanung, Jakarta – At least five people died and four went missing when a massive landslide tore through Bantar Gebang, Indonesia's largest landfill, following hours of heavy rain on Sunday, exposing the deadly consequences of Jakarta's chronic waste mismanagement.
The collapse affected Zone 4 of the 110-hectare site, sending seven garbage trucks tumbling and trapping eight drivers and five residents under tonnes of waste, according to the Jakarta Environment Agency.
By Monday afternoon, authorities confirmed five fatalities and four survivors, while at least four others remained unaccounted for.
More than 300 personnel from the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), and 20 other institutions were deployed to search for the missing victims.
Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung extended condolences to the families, and said the collapsed area had been cordoned off to expedite rescue operations.
"This was certainly unplanned and unexpected. The heavy and prolonged rainfall, combined with the high piles of waste, triggered the landslide," Pramono told reporters at the City Hall on Monday.
He noted that extreme rainfall in Greater Jakarta over the past several days had left the landfill especially vulnerable to runoff.
Bantar Gebang, some 25 kilometers from Jakarta, now holds over 80 million tonnes of the city's waste. The nearly 40-year-old landfill receives most of Jakarta's daily 8,000 tonnes of trash and produced 123,000 tonnes of highly flammable methane in 2024, nonprofit DietPlastik Indonesia reports.
A wake-up call
The deadly incident immediately drew criticism from the Environment Ministry, which urged Jakarta to halt operations at Bantar Gebang, citing the site's unlawful status under the 2008 Waste Management Law. Open dumping, in which trash is piled without proper treatment, increases the risk of landslides, fires and environmental pollution.
"This tragedy would not have occurred if the facility had been managed according to the regulations," Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said during a site inspection, adding that officials responsible could face up to ten years in prison and fines of Rp 10 billion (US$589,970) under the 2009 Environmental Law if negligence results in casualties.
Jakarta City Council member Bun Joi Phiau said the incident highlighted the capital's longstanding waste management shortcomings.
"Piles of garbage continue to mount without proper oversight, posing a serious risk of landslides. Without evaluation [and reform], incidents like this could happen again and claim even more victims," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Environmental watchdog the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) noted that this was at least the fifth trash avalanche in Greater Jakarta over the past six months, as the region struggles with critical capacity at its disposal sites.
Walhi urban justice campaigner Wahyu Eka Styawan urged the city to focus on reducing waste at the source and enforcing extended producer responsibility policies, requiring manufacturers to manage the waste generated by their products.
"Without fundamental changes in waste governance, cities across Indonesia will continue to face similar disasters, with even greater public and environmental impacts," Wahyu said.
Bantar Gebang has a grim history of deadly incidents. Previous tragedies include a landslide in nearby settlements in 2003 and the collapse of Zone 3 in 2006, which killed scavengers. In January 2026, another landslide dragged three garbage trucks into a riverbed, foreshadowing Sunday's tragedy, the Environment Ministry reported.
Residents near the landfill criticized the city's lack of effective waste management. Putri Yorika, who lives two km from Bantar Gebang, said, "Every day, more trash is dumped and piled without treatment. The soil sinks, the waste doesn't decompose and these accidents keep happening, endangering both the community and workers."
The Environment Ministry has launched a full investigation and vowed legal action to hold responsible parties accountable.
As a long-term solution, Bantar Gebang will be converted to store only inorganic waste, with strengthened source separation and optimization of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) facility in Rorotan, North Jakarta.
Source: https://asianews.network/deadly-landfill-collapse-exposes-jakartas-decades-long-waste-mismanagement