The infamous Bantar Gebang landfill site is not just the biggest open dumping landfill in Indonesia, but also in Southeast Asia. Spanning more than 108 hectares, it receives about 7,000 tonnes of waste daily from the capital city of Jakarta, accumulating into mountains of waste that reach up to 50 meters high.
However, what one person sees as trash is what another values as treasure – which is the case for the around 3,000 people who collect and sort Bantar Gebang’s waste.
These waste workers are an integral part of the informal recycling network, which contributes 9.3% of the recycling rate for all non-organic waste in the landfill, according to 10 years of research on Indonesia's informal waste sector by Dr Shunsuke Sasaki, an assistant professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
Our team joined Dr Sasaki on a recent field visit to the landfill for a first-hand look at the informal recycling network there.
The process begins as trucks full of waste gathered from all over Jakarta arrive at the site. Before being dumped to the final disposal site, trucks with seemingly big compositions of high-value recyclables are informally bought by some group leaders referred to as the bosses of waste pickers. This owned waste, or Borongan in Bahasa Indonesia, will be sifted through and collected only by those waste pickers permitted by the boss, who are often regarded as his followers.
The rest of the unowned waste, which makes up to 75% of all waste carried to the site, will be deposited in the towering mountains of waste, where it will be scoured through by the remaining waste pickers. They have to compete in salvaging any items they can sell under the scorching sun of the tropics.
On average, a waste picker can bring home 120 kg of recyclables in a day, which will undergo sorting and packaging processes before being sold to the bosses. These tasks are often performed by homemakers who tend to be female, helping the family to earn more money in between their chores at home.
The next day, collected waste from the waste pickers will be further sorted and accumulated by wage labourers working under the bosses, so as to get higher prices when sold to recycling factories or middlemen.
There are more than 50 types of recyclables that are sold into the recycling trade, with specific terminology and local names used among the community of informal recyclers in Bantar Gebang. These materials include soft plastics (PE, PP), hard plastics (PET bottles, PVC tubes), aluminium, iron, glass, and paper, to name just a few.
Since the landfill site is the receiving end of the waste value chain, most of the high-value plastics, such as PET bottles, have already been collected by street pickers in the city, leaving the Bantar Gebang waste pickers with mostly the low-value ones. However, low-value soft plastics, especially plastic bags, are more significant in volume, making up more than 80% of the total collected recyclables.
As the main commodity of trade, recycling facilities for soft plastics outnumber the other types, adding up to more than 10 recycling facilities within the area.
One of these facilities, owned by private company PT Dunia Makmur Bersama, was established in 2008 and processes up to 20 tons of plastic bags daily. Incoming waste will be first washed in multiple stages before being melted into HDPE (high density polyethylene) pellets. Of all the waste, only 30% is fit to be processed into a total of 1 ton of pellets, which sells for around IDR 8,000 (US$0.5) per kilogram.
The average monthly income of waste workers in Bantar Gebang is about IDR 1,200,000 (US$78), which is still less than the minimum wage (IDR 2,250,000 or US$145). However, as most households consist of more than one waste worker, the average monthly household income is IDR 2,400,000 (US$155).
There are two paths in which the cashflow comes. One is from a weight basis transaction offered by the bosses of waste pickers or middlemen, and the other is from a unit basis transaction with itinerant buyers. The items traded on a unit basis are high-value recyclables which will be sold in the junk market or as reused items, such as faucets made from brass. However, this only accounts for a small fraction of their monthly income, as more than 90% is comprised of recyclables traded on a weight basis.
In addition to this, the residents living within the vicinity of the landfill site receive a compensation fee for the putrid stench and tainted air and water from the piled garbage. The amount each household receives every three months from the government is IDR 1,200,000 (US$78).
The pay a waste worker gets for the hard work in scavenging is meagre, but still, they are grateful to make ends meet even if the exact amount of money they bring home each day fluctuates with the market’s demand.
Undoubtedly, they are subjected to marginalisation, both economically and socially.
However, what concerns me the most is the risk of health conditions they have to face from rummaging through trash piles every day. As most of the deposited waste is mixed, quite often the waste pickers will come across unmanaged medical waste, which exposes them to harmful and contaminated substances.
Not to mention the polluted air, filled with particulate matter including microplastics, putting them at risk of developing severe respiratory problems in the long term. According to our research, the concentration of particulate matter in the surrounding air exceeds the WHO (World Health Organisation) standard level by nearly three to four times.
There is also a high possibility of labour accidents from a landslide of waste, catastrophic explosions from methane gas accumulation, or being hit by vehicles such as excavators and dozers while unloading waste.
Yes, most certainly. The informal waste workers are a critical workforce in the recycling chain of most developing countries, including Indonesia, whose work still goes unrecognised by many.
Even though there are still possibilities of plastic leakage from recycling facilities due to limited regulation and enforcement on sewage filters, for every plastic bag and bottle recovered, that’s less plastic that ends up in the ocean – thanks to informal waste workers such as those of Bantar Gebang.
Assistant professor at Waseda University
The infamous Bantar Gebang landfill site is not just the biggest open dumping landfill in Indonesia, but also in Southeast Asia. Spanning more than 108 hectares, it receives about 7,000 tonnes of waste daily from the capital city of Jakarta, accumulating into mountains of waste that reach up to 50 meters high.
However, what one person sees as trash is what another values as treasure – which is the case for the around 3,000 people who collect and sort Bantar Gebang’s waste.
These waste workers are an integral part of the informal recycling network, which contributes 9.3% of the recycling rate for all non-organic waste in the landfill, according to 10 years of research on Indonesia's informal waste sector by Dr Shunsuke Sasaki, an assistant professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
Our team joined Dr Sasaki on a recent field visit to the landfill for a first-hand look at the informal recycling network there.
The process begins as trucks full of waste gathered from all over Jakarta arrive at the site. Before being dumped to the final disposal site, trucks with seemingly big compositions of high-value recyclables are informally bought by some group leaders referred to as the bosses of waste pickers. This owned waste, or Borongan in Bahasa Indonesia, will be sifted through and collected only by those waste pickers permitted by the boss, who are often regarded as his followers.
The rest of the unowned waste, which makes up to 75% of all waste carried to the site, will be deposited in the towering mountains of waste, where it will be scoured through by the remaining waste pickers. They have to compete in salvaging any items they can sell under the scorching sun of the tropics.
On average, a waste picker can bring home 120 kg of recyclables in a day, which will undergo sorting and packaging processes before being sold to the bosses. These tasks are often performed by homemakers who tend to be female, helping the family to earn more money in between their chores at home.
The next day, collected waste from the waste pickers will be further sorted and accumulated by wage labourers working under the bosses, so as to get higher prices when sold to recycling factories or middlemen.
There are more than 50 types of recyclables that are sold into the recycling trade, with specific terminology and local names used among the community of informal recyclers in Bantar Gebang. These materials include soft plastics (PE, PP), hard plastics (PET bottles, PVC tubes), aluminium, iron, glass, and paper, to name just a few.
Since the landfill site is the receiving end of the waste value chain, most of the high-value plastics, such as PET bottles, have already been collected by street pickers in the city, leaving the Bantar Gebang waste pickers with mostly the low-value ones. However, low-value soft plastics, especially plastic bags, are more significant in volume, making up more than 80% of the total collected recyclables.
As the main commodity of trade, recycling facilities for soft plastics outnumber the other types, adding up to more than 10 recycling facilities within the area.
One of these facilities, owned by private company PT Dunia Makmur Bersama, was established in 2008 and processes up to 20 tons of plastic bags daily. Incoming waste will be first washed in multiple stages before being melted into HDPE (high density polyethylene) pellets. Of all the waste, only 30% is fit to be processed into a total of 1 ton of pellets, which sells for around IDR 8,000 (US$0.5) per kilogram.
The average monthly income of waste workers in Bantar Gebang is about IDR 1,200,000 (US$78), which is still less than the minimum wage (IDR 2,250,000 or US$145). However, as most households consist of more than one waste worker, the average monthly household income is IDR 2,400,000 (US$155).
There are two paths in which the cashflow comes. One is from a weight basis transaction offered by the bosses of waste pickers or middlemen, and the other is from a unit basis transaction with itinerant buyers. The items traded on a unit basis are high-value recyclables which will be sold in the junk market or as reused items, such as faucets made from brass. However, this only accounts for a small fraction of their monthly income, as more than 90% is comprised of recyclables traded on a weight basis.
In addition to this, the residents living within the vicinity of the landfill site receive a compensation fee for the putrid stench and tainted air and water from the piled garbage. The amount each household receives every three months from the government is IDR 1,200,000 (US$78).
The pay a waste worker gets for the hard work in scavenging is meagre, but still, they are grateful to make ends meet even if the exact amount of money they bring home each day fluctuates with the market’s demand.
Undoubtedly, they are subjected to marginalisation, both economically and socially.
However, what concerns me the most is the risk of health conditions they have to face from rummaging through trash piles every day. As most of the deposited waste is mixed, quite often the waste pickers will come across unmanaged medical waste, which exposes them to harmful and contaminated substances.
Not to mention the polluted air, filled with particulate matter including microplastics, putting them at risk of developing severe respiratory problems in the long term. According to our research, the concentration of particulate matter in the surrounding air exceeds the WHO (World Health Organisation) standard level by nearly three to four times.
There is also a high possibility of labour accidents from a landslide of waste, catastrophic explosions from methane gas accumulation, or being hit by vehicles such as excavators and dozers while unloading waste.
Yes, most certainly. The informal waste workers are a critical workforce in the recycling chain of most developing countries, including Indonesia, whose work still goes unrecognised by many.
Even though there are still possibilities of plastic leakage from recycling facilities due to limited regulation and enforcement on sewage filters, for every plastic bag and bottle recovered, that’s less plastic that ends up in the ocean – thanks to informal waste workers such as those of Bantar Gebang.
Assistant professor at Waseda University
17 February 2024
