The Indonesian waste management sector was among the most resilient sectors during the COVID-19 outbreak, growing by about 4.9 percent (year-on-year) while other sectors contracted, as Indonesia continues its campaign towards a better waste management system.
The waste management sector bucked the economic downward trend among other business categories in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2020, the sector grew by 4.94% while other sectors contracted according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). It is the third fastest growing main sectors in 2020, beaten only by the pharmaceutical and medical services sector and the telecommunication sector.
This should be an encouraging fact not only for players in the waste management sector, but also for those concerned by the waste problem in Indonesia. The country is notorious for lacking a proper waste management system. Indonesia produces at least 64 million tons of waste annually. As much as 60% of that waste is moved and dumped into a landfill. Only 10% are recycled, while the remaining 30% are left unprocessed according to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK).
The uncontrolled waste problem is a cause of Indonesia’s rapid economic growth. This rapid economic growth has driven people to move into cities, with the World Bank estimating an annual urbanization rate of 4.4% over the past 60 years. Indonesia has been deemed as one of the world’s fastest urbanizing countries – faster than even China or India. By the end of last year, about 151 million people – half of the total Indonesian population – live in cities, roughly 18 times the population of London.
This rapid pace of urbanization has left the Indonesian government struggling in its effort to provide an adequate waste management system. The condition was so bad that the 270km Citarum River was declared one the world’s most polluted river. Meanwhile, the people of Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta has been counting down to the day that the city’s landfill in Bantargebang in Bekasi, West Java, will no longer be able to hold the city’s waste – supposedly to happen this year.
The National Waste Awareness Day held last month on February 21 thus held quite a bit of significance compared those held in previous years. Touted as “the day for when the paradigm for waste management is shifting in Indonesia” by the KLHK, the government seems more eager to campaign for improvements in the country’s waste management system.
One example is promulgation of the Joint Decree between three Ministerial Institutions and the National Police. The Joint Decree establishes a road map for the acceleration of domestic industrial raw materials to replace imported hazardous raw materials. The decree is expected to incentivize the private sector as well as regional governments to better managed waste and create a circular economy in which waste can be used as industrial raw materials.
A concrete example of this campaign has been carried out by the Merah-Putih waste-to-energy plant located at the aforementioned Bantargebang landfill. Being the first 24-hour waste-to-energy plant in Indonesia, the plant managed to produce 783.63MWh of electricity in 2020. The city is planning to build three more intermediate waste treatment facilities in several locations in and around Jakarta.
Anonther example comes from the West Java administration, which is building waste treatment sites that will process plastic waste into diesel fuel and raw plastic materials that it hopes will be ready for operation by 2023. West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said the facilities would be built in the three regencies of Bekasi, Tasikmalaya and Cirebon, as well as the two West Java landfills of Sarimukti in West Bandung and Galuga in Bogor.
This campaign is part of President Joko Widodo’s own promise to have 100 percent of the country’s waste managed, if not recycled, by 2025, via Presidential Decree No. 97/2017. It is clear from the most recent campaign for better waste management, the government acknowledges that it cannot handle the waste problem alone and it must involve all stakeholder to participate in the process in a fair manner. If the growth rate of the waste management sector last year is any indication, that process seems to be finally starting in earnest.