Jatiwaringin Landfill Fire Shows Waste Management Must Change, Says Eddy Soeparno

Deputy Speaker of the MPR from the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, Eddy Soeparno, stated that the fire at the Jatiwaringin Final Processing Site (TPA) shows that the waste management system relying on burial can no longer be applied. National waste management must be implemented through a Waste-to-Energy (WTE) mechanism. “The Jatiwaringin TPA fire is an alarm that waste management capacity has reached a point requiring fundamental change,” he said in a written statement on Sunday, 5 July 2026. Eddy noted that Indonesia currently produces 56 million tonnes of waste annually, with the majority ending up in landfills. This situation, he said, increases the risk of fires due to methane gas accumulation, exacerbates environmental pollution, and squanders the economic potential contained within the waste. He therefore called for the acceleration of WTE facility construction in various regions, arguing that this step can reduce the volume of waste entering landfills while generating electricity. “This is a tangible form of a circular economy that provides added value from something previously considered mere waste,” he said. According to Eddy, WTE technology has already been implemented in various developed countries with strict environmental standards. The MPR, he said, will oversee the entire development and operational process to ensure compliance with environmental regulations, the use of the best available technology, and transparency. The fire at the Jatiwaringin TPA in Tangerang Regency began on Tuesday, 30 June 2026, and had not been extinguished by Sunday, 5 July 2026. The Ministry of Environment/Environmental Control Agency (KLH/BPLH) suspects the fire was triggered by hot weather conditions causing hotspots in the waste piles, though a definitive investigation will be conducted after the emergency is handled. Abdul Muhari, Head of the Data, Information, and Communication Centre for Disaster at BNPB, said 15 hectares of the landfill were affected by the fire, with 40 per cent of the area extinguished and cooled. Firefighting efforts are ongoing via ground and air for the remaining 60 per cent. A total of 231 people have been evacuated to avoid the adverse effects of the smoke, with the government providing logistical aid such as mattresses and deploying a medical team on 24-hour standby.