President Prabowo Calls for Accelerated National Waste Management by 2029

President Prabowo Subianto leads a limited cabinet meeting with several ministers of the Red and White Cabinet at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday (06/10). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)

The Government has renewed its strong commitment to solving the country’s waste problem in a comprehensive manner by 2029 to meet the national target outlined in the 2025-2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).

The commitment was further underlined during a limited meeting with several ministers from the Red and White Cabinet on strategic measures for accelerating waste management efforts, chaired by President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday (06/10).

Minister of the Environment/Head of the Environmental Control Agency Hanif Faisol Nurofiq stated that President Prabowo instructed his Cabinet Ministers to speed up national waste management efforts by actively involving local governments.

“The President has set the target in the RPJMN, instructing that by 2029, problems related to waste management must be resolved. For that reason, we have prepared joint strategies using several approaches,” Hanif said in his statement to the media following the meeting.

On that occasion, Hanif explained that the approaches include upstream schemes such as the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Waste Processing Facility (TPS-3R) and the Integrated Waste Processing Facility (TPST), as well as downstream solutions like Waste to Energy (WTE) and Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF).

The President also instructed relevant ministries to immediately coordinate with regional governments in their capacity as the officials in charge, as stipulated in Law No. 18 of 2008 on Waste Management.

“In line with the President’s directives, we will collaborate with Minister of Home Affairs to further discuss follow-up actions,” Hanif said.

Echoing the same sentiment, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian conveyed that the President has shown deep concern regarding environmental issues, particularly those related to waste management, which have become a major problem in several regions. The Government has designated 33 Final Disposal Sites (TPA) as the priority sites for converting waste into energy.

“The mechanism that will be used is called Waste to Energy, which will convert waste into energy. Danantara (Indonesia’s investment management agency) will have a role in that,” Tito said.

Minister of Investment, who also serves as Head of BPI Danantara, Rosan Roeslani affirmed Danantara’s readiness to invest in regional Waste to Energy projects, while still taking into account the existing investment criteria. He added that Danantara will not work alone in the projects.

“We will also invite private sector partners to co-invest with Danantara in Waste to Energy,” Head of BPI Danantara remarked. (Bureau of Press, Media, and Information (BPMI) of Presidential Secretariat) (RIF/TM)