Megawati: Waste Sorting Can Improve Waste Pickers’ Welfare

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s fifth president and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair Megawati Soekarnoputri said sorting waste at household level could bring economic benefits, including improving the welfare of waste pickers.

“Starting at the source — and we are the source — if we sort waste at home, hopefully, as Mr Pram [Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung] has said, Bantar Gebang could eventually become a waste-disposal site for waste that has already been sorted,” Megawati said in a video address at the 2026 National Waste Awareness Week (PPSN) event at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Jakarta on Thursday.

Megawati said sorting waste at home could create a waste-management chain from source to end point, while generating economic value for the people involved.

“This would bring many benefits, including improving the welfare of waste pickers. In this way, we can build our own chain, which I call one that runs from source to end point,” she said.

She said recyclable inorganic waste could be turned into economically valuable products through the circular economy.

Megawati urged the public to make waste management a collective movement by starting the habit of sorting waste at home.

She said responsibility for protecting the environment should not be limited to waste management, but should also be reflected in various aspects of public life.