(Bloomberg) — The partial closure of a large landfill on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali is forcing thousands of residents to burn trash in their backyards instead, raising widespread environmental and health concerns.
The Suwung landfill, about 10 kilometers (six miles) northeast of Denpasar International Airport, used to process about 1,000 tons of waste a day. Authorities said it will stop collecting organic waste from April 1 as the site nears capacity, in an effort to direct the matter instead to sites where it can be composted or disposed of more appropriately.
Organic waste such as household waste, spoiled produce and food scraps from the island’s hundreds of hotels and beach clubs has been one of Suwung’s biggest challenges. Once in a landfill, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Organic waste makes up about two-thirds of all waste produced in Bali.
But with few other disposal options, people started burning trash or dumping more of it in rivers or along roads.
“Almost every third or fourth house on my street burns their own garbage,” said Ravinjay Kuckreja, a longtime resident of the capital Denpasar. “Obviously it’s a small scale, but it adds up. Collection points in the area are now full, he said.
While the problem is less acute in tourist areas where some businesses have private waste disposal channels, the problems in Suwung only add to Bali’s growing garbage crisis. Poor collection and processing capacity on the island has led to serious plastic pollution of rivers and coastal waters. Seasonal monsoons often exacerbate the problem by washing debris onto beaches.
Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara has announced plans to build a facility that would burn waste to generate electricity in Denpasar, as well as in dozens of other cities across the archipelago. In Bali, the fund partnered with the Chinese company Zhejiang Weiming Environmental Protection Co. on the development of the device, which should start operating by the end of 2027.
Bali I Governor Wayan Koster described the Danantara waste-to-energy project as a “beacon of hope”. But he said until such facilities are online, Bali will be “under siege by garbage, which is ironic for a global tourist destination that represents Indonesia’s global image”.
The island’s local administrators are encouraging households to sort their own waste and compost organic waste to mitigate the problem until the incinerators are up and running, although Koster admitted that this is difficult to enforce.
–With the help of Prima Wirayani.
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