Jakarta’s streets choke under mounting trash as landfills near capacity

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - JAKARTA, Feb 17 — Garbage-choked streets, overloaded landfills, and the fear of trash avalanches haunt greater Jakarta, as the world’s most populous metropolis grapples with a waste crisis.

Jakarta and its satellite cities, known collectively as Jabodetabek, are home to 42 million people and produce up to an estimated 14,000 tonnes of waste daily.

That has placed increasing strain on the approximately eight landfill sites that serve the region, which are now all close to or full, according to local media reports.

At a traditional market in the city’s south, Nurhasanah said the garbage piling up by her coffee and snacks stand was bad for business.

“The smell is awful, very pungent. It is also unpleasant to look at. It looks filthy,” said Nurhasanah, who like many Indonesians only has one name.

Experts say population growth, rising incomes leading to higher consumption, and a chronic lack of sorting and disposal enforcement have created the crisis.

Capacity is even an issue at the massive Bantar Gebang site, one of the world’s largest open landfills, sprawling over more than 110 hectares.

It already holds around 55 million tonnes of trash, according to a local environment agency official, who did not specify how much space was left despite reports it is at overcapacity.

‘I’m disappointed’ 

In South Tangerang, some pedestrians gagged and swatted at swarms of flies as they walked down littered streets.

“I’m disappointed. We, as civilians, pay taxes, right? So why is the government like this? Waste management should be their responsibility,” Muhammad Arsil, a 34-year-old motorbike taxi driver, told AFP.

Another resident, Delfa Desabriyan, said people threw rubbish in the street because the local landfill was full.

“Every single day, there’s always someone dumping trash,” the 19-year-old shop attendant said.

“It’s annoying, to be honest, like when we want to eat, I lose my appetite. The smell is just off-putting.”

The nearest landfill only holds 400 tonnes of waste, well below the 1,100 tonnes South Tangerang produces daily, according to the local government.

The problem extends beyond the capital, with President Prabowo Subianto warning almost all the country’s landfills will be full (or over capacity) by 2028.

Hundreds still use open dumping, despite it being illegal, and waste is often burned, releasing potentially hazardous pollutants.

Overcapacity landfills come with additional risks.

In 2022, a 30-metre-high garbage heap at a landfill in West Java’s Cipayung triggered a landslide that entered a river, submerging a bridge to the neighbouring village.

Locals now rely on a makeshift raft made from plastic barrels and plywood to cross the river.

“If the trash keeps piling up higher, the garbage from the top will slide down again,” resident Muhammad Rizal told AFP.

The Cipayung landfill has been at overcapacity since 2014, a University of Indonesia study found.

And in 2005, 143 people were killed by a garbage avalanche at another landfill in West Java’s Cimahi, triggered by a methane gas explosion and heavy rain.

Substantial investment

The government says it plans to permanently close several landfills, including those in South Tangerang and Cipayung.

It is promoting waste-to-energy sites that incinerate garbage and produce electricity, with 34 planned within two years.

“This is a substantial investment, almost $3.5 billion,” Prabowo said last week.

But the planned plants won’t tackle the lack of sorting and recycling, said Wahyu Eka Styawan of environmental group WALHI.

“This is a complex issue, a mix of poor awareness, policy, and a kind of inconsistency in how waste management is implemented,” he told AFP.

“It’s one of those things that has been left unaddressed for a long time,” he said.

He said reforms are needed for a waste management system that is still designed on the collect-transport-dispose model without prioritising reduction at the household level.

Jakarta’s environmental agency did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.

Nur Azizah, a waste management expert at Gadjah Mada University, said the government’s failure to educate people and a lack of law enforcement were partly to blame.

“The problem lies in the consumption pattern, so what we need to fix is the way we consume,” she said. — AFP