Bali Holds Waste Sorting Alert Rally, Governor Koster: Waste Must Be Resolved at Source
The Waste Sorting Alert rally took place at Puputan Margaruna Niti Mandala Field in Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday, 7 July 2026. The event aimed to galvanise the spirit of Balinese residents in tackling waste issues.
The event was attended by the Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, Bali Governor Wayan Koster, and other regional leaders. They struck the ‘kulkul’ (traditional wooden slit drums) to signal the commencement of the waste-sorting movement.
During the occasion, Deputy Minister Hanif presented awards to 10 villages and traditional villages in Bali judged to have successfully implemented waste sorting at the source. Each village received equipment to facilitate the conversion of organic waste into compost. Hanif also expressed his appreciation to the entire Bali Provincial Government and its citizens.
“Based on the national food vulnerability figures released by the National Food Agency, Bali Province is among the top three—alongside South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan—possessing the most resilient food security in all of Indonesia,” he stated. “With an index of 79.89, this clearly reflects the serious hard work of the Governor, mayors, and regents in ensuring food availability, affordability, and utilisation.”
According to Hanif, Badung Regency is also a point of pride, being the regency with the best national food security in Bali. “Bali possesses comprehensive food security across eight regencies and one city. Such massive efforts to achieve food sovereignty are being realised amongst us,” he said.
Beyond these achievements, Hanif highlighted the significant challenge currently facing Bali: waste production reaching approximately 3,500 tonnes per day for a population of about 4.5 million. He noted that in April 2025, Bali declared itself a Waste-Free region, followed by a declaration on 10 June 2026 to accelerate waste management in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and all regional heads in Bali.
“Today, we are taking a further step through the Bali-wide Waste Sorting Movement,” Hanif said. Referring to available data, Bali is the province conducting the most massive waste-sorting actions in Indonesia, particularly in Denpasar and Badting Regency. Hanif also emphasised the importance of accelerating the reduction of waste entering landfills, specifically the Suwung landfill, which suffered a fire in 2023.
He noted that Bali represents the face of Indonesia as a global tourist destination; therefore, a clean Bali is non-negotiable. He set a target to resolve Bali’s waste issues by December 2026 through the Source-Based Waste Management (PSBS) movement.
Meanwhile, Governor Wayan Koster emphasised that the key to resolving the waste problem is addressing it directly at the upstream or source level. He stressed that all waste production must be processed at its point of origin.
“Starting from households, villages, traditional villages, markets, hotels, restaurants, cafes, places of worship, schools, to offices,” Koster said. “The earliest and most decisive step in that management chain is sorting the waste.”
Sorting waste is not merely about separating organic and non-organic materials, but is a tangible manifestation of awareness, responsibility, and a new culture for the Balinese people to preserve their nature and culture. Through this movement, the management system becomes more efficient as organic waste can be directly processed into fertiliser to enrich agricultural soil. “This aligns with the mission of the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs,” he added. Non-organic waste can be recycled to achieve high economic value while preventing environmental pollution.
Governor Koster called upon all elements of society to strengthen commitment, collaboration, and the spirit of ‘gotong royong’ (mutual cooperation). This large-scale synergy is expected to involve central and regional governments, community groups, environmental activists, the private sector, the TNI, the Police, and students, who play a vital role in building a culture of cleanliness from an early age.