Vidya Pinandhita, Jakarta – Jakarta 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.
Oversight, discipline
The instruction also enhances local monitoring through the involvement of subdistrict heads to ensure that household waste is sorted properly as well as to prevent unsorted waste from being transported to temporary disposal sites.
The city is also aiming for each community unit (RW) to develop independent waste management systems, offering incentives for areas that achieve 100 percent sorted waste. Noncompliant residents may face administrative sanctions as decided at the RW level under Regional Regulation (Perda) No. 3/2013 on waste management.
Cyril Raoul "Chico" Hakim, special gubernatorial staffer for communications, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the initiative would be rolled out in stages toward a targeted 50 percent reduction in the volume of waste sent to Bantargebang by Aug. 1, 2026.
In early March, seven people were killed when a landslide tore through the country's largest landfill following hours of heavy rain, exposing the deadly consequences of Jakarta's chronic waste mismanagement.
"The more disciplined residents are about sorting waste at the source, the less [residual waste] reaches RDF and WtE facilities and the lighter the burden on Bantargebang will be," Chico said.
"Achieving [the waste reduction target] depends heavily on public participation," he emphasized.
Greener, wider systems
As part of its wider waste management efforts, Jakarta has signed a memorandum of understanding with state asset fund Danantara to accelerate the development of two WtE facilities, one in Bantargebang and the other in North Jakarta's Kamal Muara, with a combined waste processing capacity of 2,500-3,000 tonnes per day.
The city also commenced operations last year at the Rorotan RDF processing plant in North Jakarta, which has a daily capacity of 2,500 tonnes and can produce around 875 tonnes of alternative fuel at full capacity. However, the plant has faced strong opposition from local communities over air pollution concerns.
Greenpeace Indonesia says incineration technologies are harmful to the environment and public health, and has instead urged the government to commit to the waste reduction road map. In particular, it has pushed for enforcing extended producer responsibility (EPR), which requires manufacturers to collect, recycle and dispose of their products after use.
According to Yayat Supriatna, an urban expert at Trisakti University, aside from the high volume of garbage, poor public awareness and insufficient infrastructure also contributed significantly to Jakarta's waste crisis.
Yayat stressed that household waste sorting must be supported by downstream systems, while warning that the new policy risked becoming impractical without supporting facilities and public initiatives.
In particular, he pointed to a critical need for continuous education with a hands-on approach, not just public appeals, to develop lasting behavior change.
"If we want public participation in waste management, the program must be instilled through education and practical facilitation," he said.
Naomi, a South Jakarta resident who has long been separating organic and inorganic waste at home, also highlighted low public awareness as a key challenge.
"People still throw trash into rivers, dispose of it carelessly and even dump it in unauthorized places until it piles up," she said.
"Until everyone becomes aware, this waste sorting appeal will take time, and the government must find a way to ensure that the message truly reaches residents." (vny)
Source: https://asianews.network/jakarta-mandates-household-sorting-to-tackle-chronic-waste-crisis