In early September, I stood on a 4-hectare site in the city of\nIndore, India. Eight years ago, this location was an open dumping site,\nwith waste piled meters high. Approximately 1.3 million tonnes of waste\nhad accumulated over five decades, contaminating groundwater and\nspontaneously combusting during the dry season. However, on that day, I\nwitnessed lush greenery, a biogas plant, and recycling facilities\nstanding upon it.<\/p>\n
What left me speechless was not the scenery, but the duration of the\nrecovery. How could that mountain of waste be cleared in less than two\nyears?<\/p>\n
During my two decades working in Indonesia\u2019s waste sector, I have\nfrequently heard the same arguments in meeting rooms: that waste\nproblems are too complex, require long periods, necessitate massive\nbudgets, and require a level of public awareness that has yet to be\nestablished. Indore made me question all of those assertions.<\/p>\n
Why Indore? Our officials often choose to study waste solutions in\nGermany, Denmark, Japan, or Singapore. The problem is that the gap\nbetween Indonesia and those nations is not merely technological, but\nalso involves per capita income, fiscal capacity, and differences in\nculture and bureaucracy. Upon returning from those places, we often find\nmany dead ends in implementation because those solutions simply do not\nfit the Indonesian context.<\/p>\n
Unlike Indore, their GDP per capita is actually lower than\nIndonesia\u2019s. Their bureaucracy is complex, their politics are dynamic,\nand their informal waste sector issues are as intricate as ours. Indore\nitself has a population of around 3.5 million, comparable to our major\ncities.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Indore ranked 25th in the Swachh Survekshan national\ncleanliness survey. A year later, Indore rose to number one and has\nmaintained that position for eight consecutive years leading into 2025.\nThis was achieved not through expensive technology, but through a\nspecific way of working.<\/p>\n
What they do every day:<\/p>\n
I asked Syed Asad Ali Warsi, the consultant who designed the\ntechnical architecture of this transformation: \u2018What exactly do you and\nyour team do every day?\u2019<\/p>\n
The answer was simple yet demanding. The Mayor, the City Commissioner\nas the chief executive, and the expert team gathered almost every day,\nfrom six to nine in the morning, and then continued from six to nine in\nthe evening.<\/p>\n
This was not monthly meetings or annual seminars. For about six hours\na decade during the first three years, they discussed planning,\nfinancing, implementation, and resolving various obstacles on the\nground. They also toured the city and engaged in dialogue with\nresidents. Indore\u2019s actions were not merely commitments on paper; this\nwas dedication and determination paid for with their own rest time.<\/p>\n
The sequence we have traditionally reversed:<\/p>\n
The most important technical lesson from Indore is the sequence of\noperations. This is where many of our regions err.<\/p>\n
Indore did not start by building processing facilities. They began\nwith comprehensive planning and a target to eliminate all public bins,\ncontainers, and temporary collection points throughout the city. These\npoints were the sources of filth and where waste would mix again.<\/p>\n
In their place, waste was collected from every house. Door-to-door\ncollection services reached almost 100 per cent in just about one\nyear.<\/p>\n
Only after residents experienced a reliable service was sorting made\nmandatory. Approximately 800 collection vehicles, each accompanied by a\nvolunteer to educate and remind residents daily, were deployed. In less\nthan three years, about 95 per cent of residents were disciplined in\nsorting waste at the source.<\/p>\n
Only after a steady supply of sorted waste was guaranteed did\ninvestors enter to build processing facilities. A biogas plant with a\ncapacity of 550 tonnes per day and a dry waste sorting facility with a\ncapacity of 400 tonnes per day were built entirely with private capital.\nThe city government does not pay processing fees; on the contrary, the\ncompanies pay royalties to the city.<\/p>\n
We often do the opposite: rushing to build processing facilities\nworth tens of billions of rupiah, while waste at the source remains\nmixed. Expensive facilities provided with mixed waste will operate far\nbelow capacity or stop altogether. What happens is that we build the\nmachines before fixing the raw materials.<\/p>\n
Trust as the foundation of financing:<\/p>\n
One finding that addresses concerns regarding cost is the waste fee\ncollection rate in Indore. Before the transformation, waste revenue\ncollection was only around 25 per cent. Now, about 95 per cent of\nresidents pay punctually.<\/p>\n
The rates were not lowered. What changed was the quality of service.\nResidents are willing to pay because they see the evidence every morning\nin front of their homes.<\/p>\n
The city government dared to commit significant capital in the\ninitial stages to improve management, fleets, education, and digital\nmonitoring systems. The resulting growth in public trust repaid that\ninvestment in the form of payment compliance.<\/p>\n
This reverses the logic we commonly use. We often wait, even hoping,\nfor residents to pay punctually before improving services. Indore proves\nthat the sequence must be reversed.<\/p>\n
One thing that cannot be easily adopted:<\/p>\n
Much of the inspiration from Indore can be emulated, from\nsix-category sorting and satellite-based fleet monitoring to complaint\napplications with a 24-hour resolution deadline, and the restoration of\nold landfill sites. All of these are technical and not impossible for\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
However, there is one thing that cannot be adopted blindly: the\nleadership courage to be uncompromising. In Indore, three forces moved\nsimultaneously: the chief executive who executed the programme without\ncompromise\u2026<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/waste-problems-resolved-in-three-years-lessons-from-indore-india-for-indonesia-1790675870", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }