Government to Rename 'Scavengers' to 'Waste Sorters'

Manpower Minister Yassierli has revealed that the government is preparing to change the designation of the occupation of waste picker to waste sorter.

“We at the Ministry of Manpower have also received a request from the Ministry of Environment regarding the naming that we may initially know as ‘pemulung’, which has been requested to be changed to ‘pemilah sampah’,” Yassierli said in North Jakarta on Monday.

According to Yassierli, the change will later be incorporated into the KBJI (Indonesian Standard Classification of Occupations), so that the occupation can be recorded more formally within the employment system.

On the same occasion, Environment Minister Jumhur Hidayat said that informal waste workers are also expected to be brought into a more formal work scheme in the future.

According to Jumhur, the government is preparing regulations governing producers’ contributions to waste management, particularly plastic waste.

Under this scheme, workers who have so far been in the informal sector are expected to be able to have a more formal employment relationship through a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO).

The move to protect waste pickers is considered important, as work in waste disposal areas carries a fairly high risk of workplace accidents.

One example occurred in March 2026, when a number of waste workers became victims of a landslide at the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Facility, some of whom were registered as participants of BPJS Ketenagakerjaan.

For this reason, the government is also encouraging the expansion of protection coverage for waste workers, including the thousands of waste pickers who are not yet registered.