Bali, the premier tourist icon of the Indonesian archipelago, is currently facing an escalating and increasingly unmanageable waste management crisis. After one of the island’s main landfills stopped accepting organic waste on April 1, 2026, due to severe overcapacity, local residents were forced to take drastic measures. In the absence of adequate garbage collection points and alternative processing infrastructure, a growing number of people are burning accumulated trash in their own gardens or dumping it into roadside rivers, severely endangering the local ecosystem and the island’s global image.
The Shutdown of the Suwung Landfill and the Roots of the Crisis
The immediate trigger for the crisis was the partial shutdown of the Suwung landfill, located just about 10 kilometers northeast of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. The facility, which historically processed approximately 1,000 tons of waste per day, has reached the absolute limits of its maximum capacity.
Under the restriction that took effect on April 1, the landfill no longer accepts organic waste. The authorities’ original objective was to redirect biodegradable materials to specialized facilities where they could be turned into compost. In reality, however, it became clear that Bali currently lacks sufficient alternative infrastructure to support this plan. As a direct consequence, the pressure of waste management has fallen almost entirely on local residential areas.
The Massive Challenge Posed by Organic Waste
The scale of the problem is well illustrated by the composition of the island’s waste. Organic waste—which includes everyday household garbage, spoiled agricultural products, and massive amounts of food scraps from local households, luxury hotels, and beach clubs—accounts for approximately two-thirds of Bali’s total waste generation.
Even previously, disposing of this massive amount of organic material was not without issues. Organic matter decomposing in an oxygen-free environment within traditional landfills produces significant amounts of methane. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas that drastically contributes to the acceleration of global climate change and warming.
Choking Smoke in Residential Areas: The Locals’ Forced Solution
With the Suwung landfill closing its gates to organic waste and official residential garbage collection points becoming overwhelmed, the population has been left with little choice but to resort to illegal and highly polluting waste burning.
Ravinjay Kuckreja, a longtime resident of the capital city, Denpasar, pointed out the daily reality: on certain streets in the city, every third or fourth house is currently burning generated household trash on their own property. Those who do not choose incineration often dump their remaining garbage into natural waterways (rivers) or simply along the roadsides.
In tourist districts, the situation is somewhat more nuanced. The “overwhelming” mountains of trash are less visible in these prime areas because many larger hotels and tourist businesses maintain their own closed waste management systems. Nevertheless, the inadequacies in managing plastic waste have been a decades-long problem on the island. The situation becomes particularly critical during the monsoon season when plastic trash dumped into the rivers is washed ashore in massive waves onto the beaches frequented by tourists.
Promises for the Future: Waste-to-Energy
To alleviate the unsustainable pressure, Indonesian state agencies have announced new measures. According to an official statement from the Danantara National Investment Fund, they will begin building a comprehensive network of waste-to-energy plants in Denpasar and dozens of other cities across the country. In developing the Denpasar (Bali) power plant, Danantara is cooperating with the Chinese Zhejiang Weiming Environmental Protection Company. According to plans, however, this critical infrastructure facility is expected to begin meaningful operations only by the end of 2027 at the earliest.
I Wayan Koster, the Governor of Bali, described the project as a “beacon of hope” for the island. At the same time, he openly admitted: until these new, modern power plants become operational, the island and its residents will remain trapped in the waste crisis. According to the governor, this is a very severe paradox for a global destination that international travelers still regard as the face of Indonesia and a tropical paradise.
Until the long-term energy solutions are completed, local authorities are desperately trying to encourage household-level sorting, asking residents to separate waste at the source and attempt to compost the organic portions at home. However, even Bali’s leaders admit that, due to a lack of awareness and missing infrastructure, the practical implementation of this is currently an almost impossible mission.
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The article is based on the official report published by Vietnam.vn (Nền tảng quảng bá Việt Nam / ZNews) on April 17, 2026: Bali is full of garbage