Recently, Bali was shocked by the Circular Letter announcing the closure of the Sarbagita Suwung Landfill, which is often problematic. The Suwung Landfill (TPA) located in Denpasar City, Bali Province, Indonesia, serves waste from Denpasar City, Badung Regency, and Tabanan Regency. This waste processing site is considered a failure in managing its waste storage because the pile reaches 35 meters, claimed I Wayan Koster, Bali Province Governor, to KumparanNEWS (2025).
Quoted from MetroTV (2025), to reduce the volume of incoming waste, starting August 1, 2025, the Suwung Regional Landfill will no longer accept organic waste shipments. “Starting August 1, 2025, the Suwung Regional Landfill will only accept inorganic and residual waste,” said Dewa Indra, Secretary of the Bali Provincial Government.
Admitted to the Bali Post (2025), the Head of the Badung Environmental and Sanitation Agency (DLHK), IB Gede Arjana, said that his agency had not yet found a definitive solution regarding waste management after the governor’s policy was issued. “If the waste is not sorted, it cannot be taken to the landfill. Only inorganic waste can be taken to the landfill, and that’s only until December 2025. “We don’t have a solution yet, we’re still reporting to the leadership,” he explained.
So far, the waste management efforts carried out by the Badung Environmental Agency (DLHK) include socialisation and implementing an organic waste collection system (specifically on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), while inorganic waste is collected on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. What about other areas? How about the journey? Based on my observations as a resident of Denpasar City (which has significant overlap with Badung Regency) who is not a local and is not the owner of the house (renting), I feel there has been no socialisation of this policy. Involvement is also very minimal (among other things, we only sort because we heard the news independently, and as waste disposers). Based on my observation, the garbage collectors don’t come every day and don’t sort the garbage they collect (regardless of whether the waste generators sort their garbage or not). Thus, I feel there’s a disconnection between the rule makers, the rule enforcers (including waste collectors), and the waste producers.
“(You) Make your own trash, (you) clean it up yourself. Don’t ask others to take care of it.” I have some trash and I’m sending it to your house; do you want it? I Wayan Koster, Governor of Bali
Figure 1. Statement by the Governor of Bali regarding the announcement of the Circular Letter on the closure of the Sarbagita Suwung Landfill. Source: https://www.facebook.com/kumparancom/posts/gubernur-bali-wayan-koster-menegaskan-pentingnya-pengelolaan-sampah-berbasis-sum/1183183763840896/
The statement by the Governor of Bali above is also considered quite controversial because it seems as if he doesn’t want to know, and you, as the source/waste generator, must solve your own problems and not rely solely on the system. In contrast to the Surabaya Green and Clean (SGC) case study, where governance involvement and community participation played a crucial role in the program’s success. Breaking the stigma that people with low education can actively participate and support the success of this cleanliness and pro-environment action.
Wibowo Heru Prasetiyo, K. R. Kamarudin & J. A. Dewantara (2019) reviewed the success of the Surabaya Green and Clean (SGC) program in the Margorukun village, Surabaya. The SGC program aimed to create a clean and healthy environment by engaging with the citizens without exception since 2005. In Kampung Margorukun, a waste bank was also built and is directly managed by the residents. The city government hopes that by empowering local citizens through the provision of entrepreneurial skills from the waste recycling process, this program will also be successful. Although economic motives were initially the main driver, a sense of belonging grew as the process progressed.
In addition, the positive synergy from the collaboration between the community and the government is also well channeled through this program by awareness raising, bottom-top policy approach, building sense of ownership and pride to the effort. As a result, after being implemented for 5 years, this waste management program successfully reduced the amount of waste by 30%. Surely the program faced challenges as well, the table below summarises the stakeholders’ roles, obstacles, strategies, and results of the SGC program in Kampung Margorukun.
Table 1. Roles, obstacles, strategies, and outcomes of the SGC program in Kampung Margorukun
Source: Wibowo Heru Prasetiyo, K. R. Kamarudin & J. A. Dewantara (2019)
Will this approach work for the Bali case in handling waste problems, considering the diversity of the residents, different motivations, and type of waste?
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